Who I Am
by Slugface-chan
Summary: Lucy quits Team Natsu and gives up her position to Lisanna in order to focus her time on training. With upcoming S-Class trials and a legend that has Lucy fascinated she began taking more missions- seeing her friends less. Following the purposeful changes she made there were changes that followed accidentally. Like Laxus Dreyar. LaLu
1. i the beginning

**Chapter One**

**_Disclaimer: All Fairy Tail characters and places belong to Hiro Mashima. I only spin tales with the characters in my imagination and then write them onto paper…..or type them on a laptop. I hope you enjoy._**

**_(Lucy might be a little OOC, but I mean, this is fanfiction so... Oh, and it might seem like there is some Bickslow and Lucy in this chapter but there isn't. She doesn't like him, he just wants in her pants. This is Laxus and Lucy only. No Lucy and other people. )_**

* * *

Lucy Heartfilia was not a jealous person. In fact, she was quite the opposite. Lucy was kind and caring and she loved Fairy Tail. Although lately, it seemed that the members did not necessarily return those feelings. The members of Fairy Tail were caught up with Lisanna Strauss. Of course, Lucy would never blame them. After all, Lisanna was a member of Fairy Tail way before Lucy and she was supposedly dead. Lucy, as a matter of fact, was glad that the youngest Strauss was back. It overjoyed Lucy to see Elfman and Mira so happy. Actually, she was glad everyone was happy.

When Lisanna had first gotten back Lucy hadn't cared. When they had the S-Class trials, Lucy didn't care. Even during the Grand Magic Games, Lucy didn't care because she was not a jealous person. She didn't envy the fact that Lisanna had everyone's attention. She wasn't jealous that her team seemed more like Lisanna's team now. She wasn't envious. She understood. This was the girl that everyone had assumed was dead. It didn't matter to Lucy because if her nakama were happy, she was happy.

Lucy also felt slightly out of place. She knew that the silver haired girl wanted so badly to be on Team Natsu and she knew Team Natsu felt the same. Lucy didn't want to be the one that was stopping them from being a good team. Besides, Lucy needed to be working on her strength. She needed to get stronger and doing missions with a team who did all the work she stood no chance. She didn't really mind, she knew that the new team Natsu would be happy and that was enough for Lucy.

Lucy walked out of her home, still in a daze. She was glad that she had decided to give her spot to Lisanna. It would be beneficial for all of them. Team Natsu would be really happy and Lucy would be able to get a full reward and get stronger. It was pretty much a win-win. Well, except for that little pulsing pain near her heart but she could ignore that.

The sun was spreading it's golden rays over the town of Magnolia as Lucy walked on the damp sidewalk where the earlier rain had fell. The dark grey storm clouds were rolling away and a light breeze swayed the trees and shook out rain. A few leaves fell and Lucy knew that fall was fast approaching. The small golden leaves twirled before the chilly breeze blew them away and Lucy looked towards the rising sun. Yes, today she would stop being Lucy the Cheerleader and start being Lucy the something or other. Something that meant she was going to get stronger.

* * *

Team Natsu stood, their mouths open and there hearts stopped. Quit Team Natsu? Happy looked at the blonde, his big innocent eyes watering and his lip quivering. Lucy looked at the blue cat and smiled softly. She knew the little blue neko loved going into her house and even though he complained about her weight she knew that he was teasing…hopefully. Natsu stood with his mouth open, his eyes bulging out and he looked close to tears.

"But Luce, you're my partner." He said finally, his onyx eyes boring into hers.

"Well, make Lisanna you're partner. I already told you that I'm doing this so she can finally be part of your team. Natsu, you guys were best-friends. You deserve to be in a team." She looked serious, almost as serious as Erza usually looked.

"But Luce, I thought YOU were my best friend. That means we HAVE to be in a team." He whined.

Lucy shook her head firmly and looked around for the youngest Strauss sister. When her eyes landed on the said mage who was chatting with her brother, Elfman, she quickly grabbed Natsu's wrist and dragged him over to the pair who were now watching as Lucy shouted at the pinkette and the pinkette whined childishly.

Lisanna's irrationality got the best of her and she felt herself tremble. What if Natsu was dating Lucy? What if they didn't want Lisanna tagging along on their missions anymore? Lisanna must've been trembling more that a camel in the arctic because her brother Elfman laid a large hand on her shoulder, silently reassuring her. She wasn't actually sure how he knew what she was afraid of, after all he seemed pretty dense, no offence to her brother or anything.

Finally Lucy had used her famous "LUCY KICK!" and hit him in the face, knocking him unconscious. She began to drag his limp body the rest of the way over to Lisanna, dropping his body on the ground. Lisanna winced when she heard his head hit the floor. She tried to steady herself, hoping that she wouldn't cry if Lucy was really dating Natsu. The two girls were not really acquainted but from what Lisanna had heard from Mira and the others Natsu was pretty close to Lucy. In fact, she had even heard from Levy that Natsu frequently stayed over. As in the stayed the night at Lucy's place. Levy had refused to tell more which made Lisanna extremely suspicious of where each person slept.

"Lucy. Stop hogging all the blankets." Natsu whined, his eyes still closed.

Lucy kicked Natsu in the gut, sheepishly smiling at Lisanna. She didn't know that Natsu was going to talk in his sleep or unconsciousness. She really did hope Lisanna hadn't got the wrong idea because Levy had said when she told Lisanna that Natsu usually slept at Lucy's the silver headed mage seemed quite upset over it. Lucy would have been too, had she still liked Natsu. Of course she had liked the pink headed mage. She couldn't help it. She was over it now after all, it was just a little crush she had. Once she realized that Natsu annoyed her way to much and was not as mature as she would have liked she decided that there would never be a future with them together.

"Erm….Hi." Lucy said, giving a sheepish wave.

She tried to ignore the surprised comments of those who had heard Natsu whining in his sleep. Lisanna gave a small wave but Lucy could see the slight trembling that her body was doing and the water that was gathering in her eyes. Oh no. Lisanna really did think that her and Natsu were together. Lucy looked around frantically for a place where they could talk in privacy. She noticed an empty round table in the corner of the guild, the shadows covering most of it.

She grabbed Lisanna by the wrist, pulling her away from Elfman's hand and Natsu's sleep whining. She looked back at the Lisanna as she dodged flying glasses, trying to get to the table seat. The girl was letting some of her tears fall and Lucy mentally cursed herself. She halted right in front of the table, inches away from someone's chest.

Lucy gulped and her eyes travelled up to see the smirking face of Laxus Dreyar. His team stood behind him, all of them wearing matching smirks that made Lucy want to smack them upside the head. She pulled Lisanna closer to her and leveled her eyes with the stormy blues of Laxus Dreyar. He was trying to sit at the same table that she and Lisanna were going to sit. Lucy glared at Laxus and his team froze form where they were sitting.

Not once breaking eye contact with the blonde dragon slayer Lucy slid into a seat and released Lisanna who sat down hesitantly. Lucy was not normally this bold but she needed to get things straight with Lisanna and Laxus and his team were annoying her with their smirks.

"Move." Laxus said, calmly.

His voice was deep and it echoed through Lucy's head. It had an air of confidence and leadership in it. It was a voice that demanded to be heard and the owner demanded to be listened to. Lucy eyes flickered to Lisanna whose tears were flowing faster that a river. Lucy once again met eyes with Laxus, giving him a death glare that would make Erza proud.

Lucy heard someone snicker and her eyes swung to the blue haired mage, Bickslow. She glared at him with hatred, mainly because of his stupid smirk. He had no right to laugh at her. Bickslow, seeing her glare took a small step back and Lucy mentally cheered with satisfaction. She returned her glare to Laxus who seemed impassive, waiting for her to move.

"No." Lucy tried to put as much power and authority into that one little word as possible.

The guild had long since gone silent, everyone to eager to watch this confrontation to care about fighting. There were a few gasps at Lucy's boldness, at her defiance. Nobody ever messed with Laxus. The blonde slayer raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest, purposely standing straight. He towered over Lucy and she felt her boldness draining. She just wanted to scurry off and hide under a rock.

She knew that it was not an option. When she had lived with her father he had made her learn to dance and do gymnastics. Lucy had, multiple times, wanted to back down after stating that it was too hard. Her father had told her that backing down not only embarrass you, but it embarrass those who are close friends or family. Lucy was not going to embarrass anyone. Not today.

Lucy stood up out of her seat and the blonde looked triumphant for a second until Lucy just stood there, her arms also crossed and a determined look on her face. She refused to back down, to scurry away like a mouse running from a cat. If she was the mouse she wasn't going down without a fight. Her blonde hair framed her face as she looked at Laxus Dreyar, who was no longer smirking.

"Move." He said, sounding more forceful.

Lucy remembered her father's words, internally chanting them like a cheerleader's cheer. She willed her heart to stop racing, willed herself to stand up to this man and speak without stuttering. She would not allow herself to be a coward. She would not allow herself to let this arrogant blonde have the satisfaction of winning. She was sitting at this table and that was that.

"No." She repeated with more finality and firmness.

She didn't bother to see the look on his face as she turned to Lisanna who was still in tears and sat down, murmuring words of apology. Lucy figured she would comfort the girl first and tell her the story later. The patted the silver haired mage on the back, ignoring the stares that were drilling holes in her back.

* * *

Laxus Dreyar was not one to be messed with. He was used to getting what he wanted, when he wanted. This stupid blonde, the one with all the spirits, she had messed with him. She had stood up and told him no. She had looked at him with those brown orbs full of fire and gave him a glare that could frighten Erza. Now, here she was ignoring him. Ignoring him. He couldn't believe this girl.

Earlier her heart had been racing and her pulse was quick, she was practically emitting waves of fear. Then, all of a sudden she just stopped. Dead stopped and got this determined expression and told him no. Twice. Not just once she had told him no, but when he had told her again she still refused. Then she just sat down and began talking like nothing had happened. He was angry. It angered him that this girl didn't bat an eye when he had stood up and towered over her.

He watched, well, listened, as she spoke to Lisanna, the girl who had returned from Edolas after being thought dead. Lisanna had been apart of the guild when she was younger and Laxus had seen Natsu with her quite a few times. She had been crying while he had, well, "argued" with Lucy. Lucy began to reassure Lisanna, saying how her and Natsu were just friends and she didn't even like that Natsu slept in her bed with her.

Wait. Natsu slept in the same bed as a person of the opposite gender? That was something to be surprised about. The whole Lisanna liking Natsu thing was uninteresting, but something caught his attention. Lucy Heartfilia had quit Team Natsu. And for someone else to take her spot too. Laxus watched as Lisanna gasped and then her eyes watered and she cried some more. Finally the girl's went to the Master's office to tell him of the whole quitting joining thing.

* * *

The sky was a cloudless, plain blue and the sun shone in the sky. Despite the fact that the setting seemed quiet fit for a warm day when Lucy stepped out of her cozy apartment and into the open she felt freezing. A chilly wind blew her blonde hair, which she now preferred to keep down rather than up, around her face and Lucy quickly scurried inside, already planning more appropriate attire given the weather. Lucy looked through her closet and decided that she needed to take a mission so she could buy some new clothing. After all, she was going to be a new person.

Sighing, she finally settled for a pair of dark blue skinny jeans and a frilly baby blue top. She put on a furry cloak and pulled the hood up, trying to stop her blonde hair from thrashing in the chilly breeze. She stepped out of her apartment and braced herself against the cold, shivering slightly. If the wind weren't so strong and so cold then the day would have been a nice, sunny day. Instead Lucy was walking around, sulking slightly. It wasn't that she hated winter or anything. It was just that she just preferred the sun more than the snow.**_ (AN: Anyone who is now wondering 'Does she not like GraLu?' Stop it. I do. I love GraLu. And I hate Natsu….)_**

Her walk to the guild was rather uneventful. The fishermen weren't out to say hello today and the weather made her mood rather depressed. She was almost in sight of her guild when one of Bickslow's dolls popped up in front of her. Lucy was taken aback and stumbled, her foot slipping and her body already plunging towards the water.

"Shit." She cursed, louder than she had intended too.

The water was freezing cold and Lucy felt it's icy fingers grabbing at her clothing. She sputtered and popped her head above water. Her blonde hair was plastered to her face and some strands hung in her face. The furry cloak she had was also drenched, the water making it way a ton more. She spit the icy water from her mouth and looked for a way out. She heard laughing overhead and her anger began to boil over. Someone looked over the ledge at Lucy. Actually, a blue haired, creepy tongued someone.

He was laughing at the soaked to the bone Lucy, his weird dolls repeating his laughter in shrill tones. Lucy swore her anger alone was enough to light a fire as she glared at the blue haired mage. "I'm going to kill you." She spoke through clenched teeth, partly because she was angry and also because she was trying to stop them from chattering as she shivered in the water.

Suddenly a light bulb went off. Lucy was a busty blonde who was in soaking wet clothes. Bickslow was a male and a huge pervert. Lucy hid her devious smile as she pretended to struggle while trying to get out of the water. Finally she gave an exaggerated huff and slouched in the water. Bickslow had stopped laughing but was watching her struggle with amusement. Of course, her pretend preoccupation had given him time to properly look at Lucy. Lucy knew his eyes were roaming her body, she was well aware of the fact that he probably had a million creepy thoughts running through his head but currently she just wanted to make him pay.

Lucy pretended to perk up, as if she had just gotten an idea. She looked at Bickslow and gave him her best pleading look. "Help me up? Please?" She asked, thrusting her chest forward and biting her lip.

Bickslow looked cautious and he seemed to be trying to weigh his choices. If he helped the blonde now, she would be in his debt and if he didn't help her, his chances with her would drop down by a lot. He sighed and offered a hand, completely oblivious to the demonic glint in Lucy's soft brown orbs. Lucy grabbed his hand, and smiled at him gratefully. She pushed a few wet strands out of her face and began to get out with the help of Bickslow.

When she was fully out of the water and still dripping wet she looked at Bickslow, smiling shyly. "Thank you."

Said mage just smiled, glad that she hadn't tried to pull him in. Lucy and Bickslow began walking, although this time Lucy stayed farther away from m the water which meant Bickslow was very close to the edge. Lucy began to chat about stupid things, pretending to be oblivious to the fact that Bickslow hadn't bothered to once make eye contact. She could tell that he had relaxed, that he had let his guard down. Lucy waited a few more moments until they were in sight of the guild and then turned to face him. She smiled again, stepping forward.

She stepped forward again until they were almost touching and looked up at him, batting her lashes. She placed her hands on his chest. She watched as his eyes travelled over her body and he grinned. Before he could lean down to kiss her, Lucy shoved with all her strength against Bickslow's chest and stepped back before he could grab onto her. The blue haired mage fell into the water with a big splash and Lucy laughed. She heard the angry shouts from Bickslow but continued to walk, ignoring him.

She met Happy and Natsu outside the guild where they were laughing like crazy hyenas. She figured that they had seen what Lucy had done and just smiled at them. She shivered again and hugged herself, hoping that Mira might have an extra set of clothes for her to wear seeing as Lucy's were still sodden. Natsu looked at her thoughtfully and grinned.

"I could dry your clothes for you!" He said, excitedly.

Lucy shook her head frantically, not wanting to have scorched clothes. "It's fine Natsu. I'm just going to ask Mira for some help. Oh, and don't tell anyone my clothes were wet, okay?"

He nodded, slightly confused. She giggled and opened the guild doors, sneaking behind the guild bar. What would be even more funny is that no one would have seen Lucy with her wet clothes so when Bickslow told the story Lucy could completely deny it. She giggled evilly and Mira jumped, dropping a glass.

"Oh my goodness. Lucy." Mira whispered, crouching to Lucy's level.

"Mira, I need some dry clothes...but don't tell anyone that I did have wet clothes because...well, you'll see." Lucy grinned devilishly and Mira raised a questioning eyebrow.

"You'll see." Lucy repeated, giggling evilly.

Mira gave Lucy a pair of clothes she had left at Levy's once and Lucy smiled brightly, the evil glint returning to her eyes. Mira wasn't sure if she was supposed to be frightened or amused. She figured most would be a mix of both. She watched as Lucy sat in the corner table where Gajeel sat, her face hidden in the shadows. Her eyes glinted and reflected the light, making her look really creepy. Gajeel just ignored her and she ignored him. A few minutes after Lucy entered the guild and had gotten re-dressed, her clothes hidden away, Bickslow burst through the doors.

His clothes were soaked and he looked really angry. Lucy laughed devilishly and Gajeel looked at her, raising a questioning brow. Lucy just grinned at him and rubbed her hands together evilly. Bickslow was fuming as he walked in, searching for the blonde haired demon. He couldn't see her but he knew someone would have. After all, she was in soaking wet clothes and it was hard to miss someone who was dripping water on the floor.

"Where is she?" He shouted angrily.

Some people looked at him with confusion while others seemed to think he was insane. It wasn't his fault. He had helped the cosplayer and then she had pushed him into the water.

"Heartfilia? Where is she?" He asked aloud, his eyes flickering to her former team's faces. **_(He called her by her last name because he's angry...)_**

They looked oblivious and curious. They seemed to have no idea where the blonde was. In fact, the fire dragon slayer, Natsu, seemed unconcerned, favoring to argue with the ice mage rather than panic. He searched again, his eyes landing on the two figures in the corner. Gajeel Redfox sat, seemingly unconcerned by Bickslow's outburst. A blonde mage, the same one he was hating currently, was giggling evilly and covering her mouth. Bickslow headed towards her and she stopped stopped laughing. She straightened up, a mischievous glint in her eyes.

Bickslow stopped in front of her, extremely pissed off. She gave him an innocent look, her chocolate orbs still glinting evilly. Bickslow glared at her and noticed that she was not wearing wet clothes. As a matter of fact, she looked like she had never fallen into the river, or even gotten a single drop of water on her.

"You." He pointed, glaring at her.

"What?" She gave him another innocent look, her lips pulling into a frown and her brows furrowing as in confused.

Bickslow was boiling over with anger. He could not believe that this blonde was making him look like a complete idiot in front of his entire guild. When had the cosplay queen gotten so evil? He looked back at where everyone was glaring at him and when he looked back to said blonde her eyes were watering.

"I'm sorry for whatever I did." She said, her eyes never losing their mischievous glint.

Random members of the guild began shouting at him and Erza looked at him with eyes like daggers. She pulled out a sword and Bickslow held up his hands. He looked towards the blonde celestial mage and glared at her.

"Sorry." He mumbled. "I guess I must've mistaken you for someone else." He gave her one last glare and walked away, passing by a triumphant Erza.

Lucy hid a grin and looked towards Mira who was giggling quietly. She looked back at Bickslow who was sending her death glares from across the room. Gajeel didn't look at her but he held up a hand, palm out. She high-fived him, grinning.

**_An: Done. Yeah, slightly OC Lucy and angry Bickslow. So yeah. Also, this story is Laxus and Lucy only... there's no Bickslow love her unless it's like... friendship. Maybe. I dunno. Anyway, no Bickslow and Lucy romantically or anything. You can sigh in relief now._**


	2. ii the beginning

_**AN: I know, I know. I've been gone a long time, way to long and for that I apologize. I can't guarantee the next update will be speedy either, my laptops been broken, my phones currently broken and I have no internet, I know, life sucks. Anyway, just wanted to clarify because I had a few people saying that they were BixLu fans, I don't not like BixLu, I actually thoroughly enjoy it. Its just that I've noticed the ship doesn't have a large fan base and figured people might think they were together and not want to read the story, sorry. **_

_**Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima. Yeah. **_

Golden rays smiled down on the bustling town of Magnolia. Trees had begun shedding their leaves, flowers had begun to die and the birds were flying away but despite all of that the sun was still smiling and the sky was as blue as it was in the summer. Not a cloud was in sight as people walked to and fro, wandering the city as most often did. Children ran into the streets, laughing and chasing each other around as Lucy walked down the street. A little boy squealed, chasing after a chicken with outstretched hands. A little girl followed behind him and as the boy cut in front of her the girl ran straight into her leg.

The orange haired girl stumbled back and fell, a small surprised yelp coming from her mouth. She looked up at Lucy with wide and frightened grey eyes. Lucy smiled down at the little girl with warm brown eyes and offered her hand to the fallen child. The little girl accepted her hand and pulled herself up. She looked at Lucy once more, smiling brightly and then took off after the little boy who was still trying futilely to catch the chicken. Lucy smiled at the oblivious children fondly. She was in a surprisingly good mood.

She had just gotten back from a short mission, no more than a day or so long. The quest wasn't hard, the only thing she had done was deliver a package. Of course, she had to go through a wooded area to do it but she didn't meet anything too terribly hard. After returning and having a warm shower Lucy had dressed and decided to enjoy a walk. She browsed through a few shops, occasionally buying small trinkets. Somewhere bracelets or other jewelry, other things she bought were just fascinating to her.

"Hello miss! What can I do for a nice lady on a nice day?" An elderly man waved from behind a counter, smiling as she entered.

"I'm just browsing." She called back to the man, smiling warmly.

The man nodded but didn't say anything else as she looked through shelves of items. She had entered an old antique shop which had caught her interest when she looked at the odd assortment of items in the window. Lucy stopped in front of a tiny ceramic dragon, about the size of her closed fist. It was the color of the ocean, each scale detailed and shaded with blues and greens. It's wings were spread, as if it were poised to fly. When Lucy looked closely she saw that the ceramic dragon was made with a chain around it's neck. A metal chain hung against it's back but was broken off, as if the dragon had broken free. Lucy smiled and ran a finger over it's back, feeling the scales.

"Beautiful isn't it?" The kind old man's voice said from behind her.

Lucy turned around and gave him a small smile as she held the little dragon carefully. "It's gorgeous."

The man held out his hand and Lucy handed over the tiny dragon reluctantly. "Watch." He murmured, holding up the little ceramic dragon to the light.

The scales shimmered and danced. They looked as if they were shifting colors, almost like the dragon was moving. The light danced off the scales and the metal chain, in that moment Lucy yearned to see what a dragon would look like in real life, she yearned to look at their beauty.

"That's...breathtaking." She whispered.

The man nodded, returning the little dragon to her open hands. He closed her fingers around it and smiled. "It's yours, for free."

Lucy gaped up at the man, her eyes wide. "Really, I can have it? I really would feel better payi-"

"It is yours." He looked at the figurine with distant eyes. "Back when I was a child these little things-" The man motioned to the little statue in her hands. "Were sought after by many. People who owned the dragons, or who were believed to own the dragons, were often killed, or robbed for it." The old man frowned. "It was not a good time for people who happened across them, or stole them. They were all clouded by greed for the statues." The man seemed saddened by the fact

"Why would people kill for them?" Lucy loved the little dragon statue but she did not see why someone would kill for such a thing.

"There are only five of these in all of the world." He said softly. "And there is a...legend... that the dragon statues could become alive, although how it is not quite sure. People were greedy, spiteful. The statues were rare and valuable, people wanted them for their significance or to sell them. Many of them though wanted to try to wake the statues."

"Is it even possible?" Lucy looked at the dragon statue in her hands adoringly, wondering if it might ever come to life one day.

"My father always said that the only way to gain a dragon's trust is through a pure, kind heart." The old man said, looking at her and smiling. "I believe if it is to ever happen the dragon will surely live for you, you seem very kind.

A light pink tinged Lucy's cheeks but she smiled brightly. "Your are very kind Sir."

"Please, call me Yami." The old man said, watching the girl as she kept glancing down at the dragon, softly brushing her thumb against its side, Yami had no doubt that he had given the dragon statue away to good hands.

"I'm Lucy." She said, smiling pleasantly.

* * *

The old man watched the blonde girl as she walked away, smiling brightly in the sun. He remembered the way her eyes marveled at the beauty of the dragon and he hoped that she would discover its secrets, for he could tell that she had already fallen in love with the little statue. He did not blame her, nor regret giving it to her. He had vowed many years ago that when the right person came along that he would not make them buy what they were destined to own. He walked slowly back to the counter and pulled out four other small dragons, before setting one back on the shelf behind the counter, carrying the other three towards the shelves.

"It's time I let you out into the world, to find someone worth having you, yes?" He murmured to the little statues.

He placed the three in different, slightly hidden spots in the shop, so that they would only be found by someone who was searching, or who had seen the slight glimmer of the scales, noticed the beauty of the tiny figures. He moved back behind the counter before picking the last dragon from behind the counter and holding it. It fit in one of his old hands and his knobby fingers tightened around the clear dragon with golden eyes instinctively, before looking down at it.

"I must leave soon, my life is almost over, I can feel it in every breath I breathe." The old man, Yami, looked down at the tiny dragon statue, which was no longer a statue but a tiny, translucent dragon that rasped back at him.

He smiled fondly at the creature as it rubbed its head against his thumb. "I've given the Queen of the Sea away."

The little dragon cocked it's head at him curiously. "Yes," Yami said softly, "I don't doubt that she will have a good home, and who knows, maybe the one who I have given it to will also find the others, and my father's wish will be fulfilled before I am to die."

The dragon made a small whining noise, pressing it's head to Yami's hand, a tiny golden tear falling from it's golden eyes. It looked up at his and made another rasping noise which Yami nodded at. " I will miss you my dear friend, I assume that my grandson will take over the shop," Yami frowned a bit, "but hopefully our friends will be gone by then." Yami said, referring to the other dragons now safe on the shelves.

But Yami's mind was troubled, for he was not sure what he would do with his own little dragon, given to him so many years ago. He had kept all the dragons safe but he feared that they would soon find themselves in the wrong hands. He was mildly comforted by the fact that at least one of the five would be safe, probably for a long time. The bell chimed as a balding man walked in, accompanied by a chattering young boy and Yami greeted them enthusiastically.

* * *

She finally found herself wandering into a weapons and armor shop, looking for something that might catch her eye. Two men were at the register, talking to the guy behind the counter.

"-help improve my speed in a month?" She caught the second man saying.

"He's got a race in a month, he want's to try to beat Kiba." The first man laughed, like there was no chance that the second man would be able to win.

"Well, I've got this set of arm and leg weights, if you wear them while doing daily jogging and training then you'll not only get faster but more agile and stronger." The cashier left and came back with a packaged box.

Lucy's ears had perked up at the cashier's words and she wandered closer, looking at the box.

"Really? I just have to keep running? How does that work?" The second man questioned, looking at the box skeptically.

"Well, there are different weights of the weights in sets of fours, for both arms and legs. The lowest weight is five pounds, which adds twenty pounds to your normal weight. By running around as usual you're adjusting to the extra weight. If you wear them all the time you'll adjust faster though. When you finally do adjust move up to the ten pound weights, then the fifteenth and eventually the twenty, if your race hasn't come by then." The cashier explained as both men nodded impressed.

They quickly paid for all four sets, which all together weighed over a hundred pounds. The first man carried the box of weights, as he was a lot stronger than the other man. They left the shop after thanking the cashier and Lucy slowly approached the man.

"Hi." She said softer than she intended.

"Hey there, how can I help you?" The man smiled politely, riffling through stuff behind the counter.

"How much were those things you sold to those men?" She asked, pointing at the backs of the men as they walked away outside, laughing.

"Hm? The weights?" He looked over Lucy. "Why would you want those?"

"So I can get stronger." She answered flatly.

The man didn't say anything else but brought back another box of them. "7,000 jewels."

Lucy mentally cursed them for being that expensive but complied and brought out the mans designated amount. He looked over her again.

"Can you carry these by yourself?" He seemed genuinely concerned and Lucy frowned.

"I didn't think of- Oh wait, yes I can." She perked up and searched for Taurus' key on her key ring. "Tada."

She summoned the giant bull-man to the surprise of the cashier who gave them to Taurus a little fearfully.

"Have a nice day?" He called out but Lucy was already walking away.

She and Taurus walked to the nearest Cafe where Lucy sat on an outdoor chair and opened up the box, grabbing the five pound set.

"Lucy-sama, what are these for?" Taurus asked, pointing at the weights Lucy was strapping on.

"Weights, to make me faster, stronger and more agile." Lucy explained, standing up experimentally and moving around.

The weights were heavy, not extremely so but they made her more sluggish and her limbs felt noticeably heavier. She walked in a circle, satisfied with the weights.

"Could you help me carry these back, please?" She asked Taurus who nodded enthusiastically, talking about protecting Lucy's beautiful body from struggling with the heavy box.

* * *

Lucy placed the little blue dragon figurine beside her bed, on a nightstand covered with a stack of books, pens and a few scattered papers. She smiled at it fondly and patted the little statues stone head.

"Welcome home." She murmured before heading into the bathroom to take a shower, for she was exhausted and slightly sweaty from a day of browsing and buying things.

Lucy walked through her apartment, heading towards her bathroom while thoughts of taking a warm, relaxing shower followed by a calming bath before she would get out and fall into a deep, calming sleep. She stretched out her arms above her head, yawning as she looked into her bathroom mirror at herself. She began taking the weights off, rubbing her wrists where they had been attached softly. it hasn't quite an aching pain but it a dull uncomfortable feeling. She raised the now weightless arm, smiling at how much lighter it felt. In no time, with training and exercise, along with the weights, she would improve drastically.

With that great thought in mind Lucy stepped into the shower, relaxing under the steaming jets of water she was being pelted with. She sighed happily, lathering shampoo into her hair. Her eyes closed as she relished in the relaxing warmth of the shower.

"LUCY!" A loud voice shouted, annoyingly familiar.

"Go away, I' in the shower!"She shouted back, now annoyed instead of relaxed.

Said owner of the voice promptly burst into her bathroom, grinning broadly.

"GET OUT!" Lucy shouted, shutting the water off and pulling the towel into the shower before wrapping it around herself.

"Aw, c'mon Luce." A pink- or, salmon haired boy said in whiny five year old voice.

Lucy emerged from the shower, glaring at him venomously with the fluffy white towel firmly wrapped around her body. "Get. Out. Of. My. Bathroom." She hissed, her voice deadly.

Said pinkette's grin faded away and he became slightly nervous as he gave a anxious chuckle. "I'll uh...wait in your living room." He pointed behind and smiled shakily at the blonde as he stepped back outside the threshold to the bathroom.

Lucy slammed the door in his face as soon as he was fully out of the bathroom and glared at the wooden barrier. She was so tired of him walking in on her whenever he felt like it. She loved him to death, as a friend, but that didn't give him the right to waltz into her house like he owned the place, not to mention the fact that he never even used the door, instead opting to climb through her window, which meant that he was always pulling the screen off and letting bugs into her house. She growled and ranted as she got dressed, her anger building instead of subsiding. She strapped the weights on last, deciding to keep them on all the time instead of taking them off when she was sleeping.

Even dressed in pink pajamas with smiling bunnies all over them Lucy Heartfilia looked as dangerous an armed Erza as she stormed out of the bathroom fuming. Her eyes flickered around her messy living room, courtesy of the pink haired boy who was feasting on all the food from her kitchen.

"Natsu Dragneel!" She shouted shrilly, stomping towards him.

Said boy paused in mid bite, looking up at her with black onyx eyes. "Er...Hi Luce."

He smiled nervously and was met with a kick into his face,. rendering him unconscious. The next time he woke Lucy was glaring down at him while he lay, slumped on her couch, shouting at him.

"-in my house like your the king of the world! Then to have the audacity to walk into my bathroom while I'm showering! Have you no manners? Not t6o mention you trashed my house and opened my window from the outside which I have told you, plenty of times, ruins it!"

He looked up at her groggily, his vision coming into focus as he stared into the angry brown eyes of his best friend, Lucy. He looked at her, heart shaped face, blonde hair, large eyes. Even when she was threatening to beat him within an inch of his life he still loved her, in the way that best friends do. He couldn't help but remember the way Lucy looked when she told him that she was leaving the team and he felt a small pang in his chest, feeling guilty for not paying any attention to her over the past month after the return of Lisanna Strauss, his childhood crush and previous best friend. Not saying that the white haired girl was not his friend, it was just he didn't hold platonic feelings for her and so she was more in the 'more that a friend' category. Lucy on the other hand, Lucy was his best friend.

"-so stupid! You never even listen when I'm telling you not to break into my house because you just go and do it again! I can't believe you! I doubt you're even listening to me right now." With that statement she whacked him in the head with her hand, making him wince as she stalked off.

"-so selfish, no respect for people's boundaries."

Natsu waited a few moments before getting up and quietly following her, knocking softly on her door. "Luce? I'm sorry, y'know, for walking into your bathroom. It was pretty stupid of me."

"It sure as hell was!" He winced but noticed that her voice was less venomous as before.

"Can I come in?" He asked, his voice still retaining a soft voice.

"I guess, since you had the decency to ask this time." Her voice said, almost completely void of any anger.

He walked in the room and was met with a pillow to the face, a grinning Lucy being the person to throw it. "You deserved that."

He grabbed the pillow, grinning madly as he pounced on her, hitting her with the pillow repeatedly. She retaliated by grabbing a large body pillow and smacking him straight in the face with it, causing his to stumble. He regained his balance and grinned mischievously, reaching his hands out and flexing his fingers. Lucy's large brown eyes got larger as she stepped back, hitting the opposite wall.

"No." She said as he crept forward. "Nuh uh. Back up."

Her words fell on deaf ears as Natsu pounced, tickling her in her sides. "No, omigod, Natsu! Stop!" She screeched, laughing and squirming.

"What's the magic word?" He asked, his eyes sparkling with laughter.

"Please! PLEASE! Oh god, Please, please, please!" She shouted at the top of her lungs, trying to breathe as he assaulted her sides.

"N-natsu?" A soft voice said from behind Lucy's closed bedroom, followed by a soft knock.

Lucy and Natsu both stopped and stared at each other with equally wide eyes. Lisanna. "Natsu? Uhm...do you want me to just go and come back later? It..uhm...it sounds like you're busy." The white haired girl trailed off, her voice trembling as she stood behind the closed door.

Natsu jumped into action, throwing the door to Lucy's room open and pulling Lisanna inside. Lucy leaned heavily against the wall, her hair mussed and her cheeks flush from laughing so hard. Her breathing was probably the loudest out of all of the people in the room as she struggled to return it to normal.

"Uhm..Hi Lisanna." She said, blushing after realizing that the girl must've only heard screaming 'the magic word'.

Said girl looked over at Lucy and blushed, despite the tears welling in the corner of her eyes after seeing Lucy disheveled form, and the fact that Lucy's pillows and blankets were strung among her room. "Maybe I should just go." She whispered sadly.

This statement was followed by two loud shouts of protest as both Lucy and Natsu began hastily explaining.

"-yelling about me walking in while she was showering." Natsu said hurriedly, earning a small pained noise from Lisanna.

"-yelling because he accidentally walked in and I was angry, he didn't-" she blushed. ;"He didn't see anything and I knocked him." Lucy said, trying to make it sound better but earning a horrified look from Lisanna.

"She knocks me out all the time-" Another horrified look from Lisanna."Anyway we were making up." Natsu explained.

"But not like..." Lucy blushed fiercely.

"-our relationship is-." Natsu said quickly.

"-Purely platonic, me and Natsu-" Lucy said hurriedly.

"-are just friends." Both finished, staring concerned at Lisanna who now stared at the two confused.

"What?"

* * *

Lucy woke up the next morning at the crack of dawn and walked to a empty field. The grass was wet with dew and a low fog hung gathered around her ankles as she walked, her keys jingling softly as she walked. The stars were fading, the light of the sun creeping up and forcing night away. Lucy breathed in the cool, crisp morning air, smiling softly. The weights on her body, an extra twenty pounds all together, were not to much of a burden, although Lucy noticed that she tire a little quicker that she usually did and by the time she made it to the empty field she was slightly winded. She summoned Loke and they both sat in the wet grass while Lucy questioned on the best methods to train.

"Well, I'm not much good with training in general, it's more Capricorn's thing than mine but I can help you in hand to hand combat." He paused and then looked at her over. "I would definitely train with Capricorn on speed and building up your muscle before coming to me though,"

Lucy nodded and the spirit dismissed himself. He was quickly replaced by Capricorn.

"Lucy-sama." The spirit bowed and Lucy smiled.

"I need help training." She said seriously, the spirit nodded and they began speaking to each other about a daily schedule.

* * *

Laxus wandered around the town that was still bathed in the dark. A few tendrils of light were seeping into the black sky and forcing the stars away. He watched the sky in silence, listening as the world began to wake up. A few birds began chirping merrily, their beaks pecking the dewy grass for worms or other morning treats. Laxus walked on as the sun slowly began rising. pushing the dark away and replacing it with soft, morning light. He found himself walking aimlessly and when he looked up a slow smirk formed on his face.

Lucy heartfilia, Fairy Tail's resident celestial mage, was running laps around a feild, her arms pumping as a man watched her from the center. Laxus smirked, what better way to start his morning than by ruining someone else's?

**_AN: And done! Hopefully I'll update faster next time, sorry guys. :/_**


	3. iii the beginning

**Shit guys, I am so sorry, I accidentally put up chapter four instead of three so I guess I'll just put them both up? This sucks, this was not the plan at all omg. **

**IMPORTANT: Incase you accidentally miss it- this chapter takes place a few weeks after chapter two in the story's timeline.**

* * *

Big brown eyes blinked slowly, her vision blurring before everything came into focus. Her hand slammed angrily in the general direction of the noise that penetrated the silence- a loud, ringing alarm clock. She groaned and squeezed her eyes shut as the sunlight from her open window filtered into her dark cave of a room. Whining like a two year old and grumbling Lucy Heartfilia dragged herself out of her bed, eyes still half closed, straw colored hair a tangled mass. Her feet hit the floor softly and she hissed before pulling them back onto her cozy bed. The floor was cold. She pouted and gingerly dropped her feet back onto the hardwood surface, sighing as she stood and stretched, pink night shirt slipping up to reveal a taut and toned ple stomach which gurgled in hunger.

She moaned again- she wasn't really much of a morning person and she had no clue what had possessed her to set her alarm clock for four o'clock in the morning. Really, what had come over her? Blinking and bringing her hands up to rub tiredly at her eyes, Lucy glanced at her bedside table, where her alarm clock had been dented and knocked over. The glistening dragon figuring caught her eye, along with the set of light weights that she knew she had bought weeks ago.

Right. That was why she had woken up so early. So she could train, because she wanted to be stronger. She had been waking up at the same time almost every morning and yet she still had to remind herself nine times out of ten why she was even awake in the first place. Lucy moaned loudly in exasperation- why was it that bettering herself was always so much work? Despite her complaining she made her way slowly over to her dresser, pulling out clean undergarments- one of her favorite matching sets- and what she figured could pass for training clothes.

A dark blue tank-top (she would have picked her favorite pink one but she had neglected to do the laundry in the last few days) and a short pair of spandex-like shorts. She snagged a towel that was folded on her desk and ambled towards the bathroom, ready to take a relaxing bath and wake herself up. Stripping out of her bed clothes which were thrown unceremoniously into a heap on the ground and stepping into the bath she cranked the handle up to the hottest it would go and practically moaned as the scalding rays relaxed her and fog flooded her senses.

She returned from the bathroom at four thirty-eight, clean and awake enough to strap herself into the ten pound weights and pull her hair up into a bun to keep it off the back of her neck. She snagged her whip, key ring and belt before snatching a banana from a bowl of fruit on her table and leaving her apartment, keys jangling merrily as she stepped out into the slightly chilly air of Magnolia.

The sun hadn't yet risen, the moon still slowly receding and she could see the tiniest bit of sunlight peeking up from the horizon. She hummed to herself as she wandered around, leisurely walking towards the edge of the urban area- where she knew there would be a few empty fields and forest clearings. It was practically a ghost-town, the only people out and about at this time were a few drunken stragglers stumbling their way home and older fisherman, ready to set out for the open waters.

She found a large and empty field with short grass and large boulder near the edge bordering woods- tall enough that she would have to leap or climb her way up it should she want to be on top of it. She continued humming as she forced her legs and arms to move, the new set of weights were chafing against her arms uncomfortably and she was sure that the skin underneath would be red and tender if she didn't bandage her forearms at some point. The ones on her legs didn't chafe as much but they were a nuisance as she constantly tried to adjust their position while walking.

She knew that eventually they would feel natural and like a part of her- as the five pound weights had- but if she was being honest at this point it felt almost like her feet had been turned into rock. Her balance was constantly being compromised and she had to stop herself from falling on multiple occasions. She made a mental note not to walk so close to the water's edge while heading to the guild, lest she lose her balance and fall into the icy waves.

She made her way into the center of the field, her legs and shoes growing wet as the dew from the grass brushed against her. She sifted through her gold and silver keys, gripping the one she wanted and summoning Capricorn. Her spirit bowed and murmured a soft 'Lucy-sama' as a greeting and she beamed at him.

"Hi, Capricorn," She said cheerily. "I changed out my weights set this morning, so you might have to take it easy on me."

She smiled sheepishly and motioned towards the heavy weight that were strapped to her arms. Capricorn glanced at them with disapproval, his mouth twisting into a slight frown. He opened said mouth to say something but was abruptly cut off by a voice on top of the boulder.

"You shouldn't have changed weights so soon, Blondie," The voice said, a spiky yellow cropping of hair visible.

Lucy wanted to throw her hands in the air in exasperation. She had been regularly searching out new fields and clearings for the entirety of her training, going as far to try to sneak off towards a secluded field but to no avail. Ever since the first day Laxus Dreyar had found her training he had made a habit of watching her morning routine- no matter where she did it.

Disregarding his advice for a question of her own she turned and glared at him with as much intensity as she could muster up, "How do you keep finding me?"

She heard the deep rumble of his laughter- like distant thunder (she laughed at herself for that pun) as he slowly stood on top of the boulder, overlooking the clearing like a lion would his herd. She coughed loudly and sneered at him, prompting him to answer. He casually stepped off the edge of the rock, landing as gracefully as he fell and walking towards her.

"There's no point in trying to hide everyday, you might as well settle down here," He motioned to the large clearing, grey-blue eyes challenging.

"You didn't answer my question," She hissed through clenched teeth. "How did you find me?"

Lucy prided herself in being a rather well-rounded mage with good manners and a friendly smile. Being from a previously rich and influential family she learned to hide her distaste with a disarming smile and if she could not do that to simply turn away or change the subject. Laxus Dreyar, however, managed to basically throw every piece of knowledge involving that sort of etiquette she owned away when he opened his stupid mouth. She had barely exchanged three sentenced with him and already she felt like attacking him. The man currently playing the victim role in her homicidal fantasies just smirked slyly at her and tapped a finger to his nose. What a condescending ass.

"Anyways, Blondie-" He started.

"Don't call me that," She snarled back, brown eyes shining with her anger.

"Anyways, _Blondie_, you shouldn't have changed your weights so soon," He repeated his earlier advice, giving her a smug smirk as if she should fall on her knees and kiss his shoes for such 'helpful' advice.

"And why not?" She retorted, crossing her arms over her chest. "The man I bought them said they could easily improve my speed and agility in a month- it's already been almost a month and I'm just now switching to the second set," She said, glowering.

Capricorn watched the exchange silently, wondering if perhaps he should interfere, before deciding against it. It seemed as if the blonde who had watched Lucy-sama train for the past weeks could easily explain to her why she shouldn't yet switch to the new weights.

Laxus feigned an over-exaggerated sigh and rolled his eyes, "Yeah, well you said that guy was just trying to win a race- you're trying to increase all of your skills which means that you can't just run around a field and expect to see results when actually fighting. Yeah, you might be able to run away faster," He snickered, "But, you haven't jumped, climbed, swam- any of that. The other weights should be an extra extension of your body by the time you move up to the set you're currently wearing. They should be an added part of your body weight, everything you do with them should be as easy as you do without them."

Lucy glowered at him, annoyed and slightly confused, "Why are you even helping me, Laxus?"

He smirked at her, smug as a cat that caught the mouse. Her glare turned frostier as she huffed and crossed her arms in front of her chest, not missing the way his eyes followed the movement._ Pig_.

"Well, Blondie, I happen to like being right, and I happen to like annoying you and it seems that I'm succeeding at doing both, even at the expense of helping you do whatever it is," He waved his hand dismissively, "that you're trying to do."

Begrudgingly she conceded that he was right about the weights thing. As much as she hated to admit it Laxus was far better trained and far more superior than her, and even if it was thrown in an insulting manner she figured she should take to heart any advice he gave. Letting out a long, defeat-admitting sigh she began to unstrap the weights.

"What are you doing, Lucy-sama?" Capricorn interrupted.

"I'm taking off the weights, we'll do training without them today and I'll come back tomorrow with the five pound ones instead of ten."

Capricorn shook his broad head and shrugged his shoulders, "It might be best to simply do the training with them on today, if nothing else it will show you how much longer you still need to adjust to the last set before moving on."

Lucy stared at him, her mind blank. He wanted her to train with these? After he had just agreed that they were much too heavy for her? She cursed herself mentally and threw a silent temper tantrum whilst Capricorn outlined the plans for that morning. Laxus leapt up onto the rock in a single bound- once again reminding her how far she was from becoming an S-class mage- and reclined back, watching her sweat her ass off with amusement as the sun slowly rose and he bathed in its warm rays.

Half-way through Capricorn's merciless 'stamina' training, Lucy's legs were trembling with exhaustion, her chest heaving with the effort to breathe. She felt like she was training for the first time, almost three weeks ago. Who knew an extra twenty pounds could make so much of a difference? Forcing herself to continue on, Lucy breathes out an exhausted "fifteen" as she passes the lap marker which was actually just a stick shoved into the ground.

Her legs were on fire, and her arms felt like they would fall off as she pumped them but she continued on nonetheless. She would make it to thirty, she was halfway there already and really, thirty laps shouldn't have been that much. Yesterday she had been doing fifty in the beginning of the training session and fifty at the end. She knew her stamina was increasing quickly and she flushed with pride every time Capricorn told her so but now she just felt worthless.

She had only done thirty laps at the beginning of this session which she knew meant Capricorn was going easy on her, especially since the entire morning he had only made her do light exercise. Instead of the hundred sit ups he had been forcing her to do he only made her do fifty. She frowned, pushing herself harder as her abs burned and sweat dripped down her face. Her arms felt to weak to try to wipe away the perspiration so she didn't bother.

"That's twenty-one." Laxus called out from his perch on top of the giant boulder.

She was too tired to sneer at him so she sent him a frost glare, and hissed angrily as she stumbled.

"You might as well just give up," His tone was condescending as his lips curled into a smirk. "You look like you might pass out."

She tried to block him out as she passed the marker again. Twenty-one. She only had nice more to go. Nine more and she could rest her limbs. With that thought in mind she forced herself to continue.

_Nine more. Only nine more. You can do it._ She encouraged herself, sweat cascading over her eyes and forcing her to blink rapidly.

"C'mon, at this rate you'll die before you even finish your laps. It's okay if you can't do it, not like I expected you to finish anyways. Neither did Capricorn for that matter, I'm sure," Laxus jeered from above her as she passed him, her anger spiking.

She expected Capricorn to interrupt, to defend himself against Laxus and give her words of encouragement but when she looked over the smartly dressed spirit was still his face impassive. Lucy's anger rose, did Capricorn really not believe she could do it?

She snarled, "Twenty-three," with conviction.

She would prove them wrong, she would prove everyone wrong. Suddenly it wasn't about Capricorn and Laxus not believing she could run thirty laps with an extra forty pounds. It was about the entire guild, the way Natsu and Gray were always ready to jump in and defend her before she had the chance to really do anything. The way Erza got angry whenever Lucy was caught in the crossfire of guild brawls- like she couldn't handle a few drunk members throwing around chairs. She remembered the look on her ex-teammates faces when she said she too wanted to try out for the S-class trials on Tenrou Island, the doubting looks they had given her.

She closed her eyes, frustrated tears slipping through her closed lids and mixing with the salty sweat that poured down her face. Her breath was ragged, her throat burned along with every muscle in her body. Her arms and legs were screaming at her, her entire body was begging her to stop but the only thing she could see was her teammates laughing with Lisanna Strauss as they easily took down bandits, the white-haired girl standing her ground in the guild brawls, chuckling as she easily deflected a stray table without the help of an overly concerned Erza.

Lucy shook her head, trying to shake away the vines of envy that were wrapping around her mind and blinked her eyes open.

"-Ondie. Oi, Blondie!" She heard the blonde man snap as she passed the marker again.

"What?" She snapped, his voice bringing her back to the present, away from green-tinted memories and anger.

"Are you gonna stop or what?" He asked, raising a blonde brow in question.

"Wh-" She asked, confused and trying to remember what number she was on.

Laxus thunderous laughter filled the silence as he shook his head, "You're past forty, sweetheart." He managed to get out between laughs, tacking on the nickname with mocking disdain.

Lucy skidded to a stop, at a loss. She had ran an extra seventeen laps? "N-no I'm not?"

"You ran forty-two laps, Lucy-sama." Capricorn's deep, monotonous voice replied, as he stepped towards her.

"I did?" She asked, desperately trying to figure out how she had run an extra nine laps without collapsing.

Laxus shook his head and snorted but resumed lounging on the stone beneath him, mumbling under his breath.

"I think that's probably enough for to-" Capricorn's sentence was cut short as Lucy promptly collapsed from exhaustion and a moment later, the spirit also disappeared.

Frowning, Laxus stared at the ground below him- more specifically the sprawled out form of an unconscious blonde girl. Logically, he should leave her there to carry herself back when she woke up, weary and aching. However a small part of him wondered if he should carry her to her house, if nothing else than to score some points with her and maybe get closer to getting in her pants, so to speak.

With a valid excuse (he assured himself it wasn't an excuse) he stepped off the edge of the rock, landing with grace probably not associated with someone like him and scooped the tired doe-eyed girl into his arms. He wrinkled his nose at the smell of sweat and dirt and the sticky feeling of her damp skin on his but nonetheless began the trek back to her house, sticking to shadows and alleyways.

* * *

Lucy woke up in her bed. Under normal circumstances it wouldn't be so odd, because she slept in her bed, so it made sense that she would wake up in her bed. However, she distinctly remembered waking up and training. She could smell the sweat on her body and even worse, she could feel the gross sticky feeling of it after it had dried. Her muscles ached and her arms and legs still had ten pound weights attached to them.

Lucy frowned- she certainly did not remember coming home or collapsing in her bed. She stared at her ceiling for a long moment before turning to her clock- 11:53.

"Oh," She murmured, before, "OH!"

She leapt out of bed and then promptly fell face first onto her floor as her legs gave way underneath her like jelly. She remembered now- remembered collapsing onto the ground from exhaustion after running forty-two laps. Horrified she realized that Laxus must have carried her back, there was simply no other explanation. Her eyes widened as her cheeks flamed in embarrassment. She would have scrambled up off the floor to check if he was still lurking around her house but her useless arms and legs weren't having it. They intended for her to lay there on the cold floor until they deemed fit.

Lucy admitted that she didn't much mind the plan, she felt like her entire body was one big rock- to heavy to try to move and unwilling to do so. She kicked her feet around blindly until she snagged her blanket and reached an arm back to throw it over herself before succumbing once again to the welcoming darkness.

"Lucy!" Someone screamed out, rushing to her dazed figure, wrapped up in a blanket on her floor.

"Huh- Wh-" Said blonde shook her head, and blinked her bleary brown eyes, groaning.

She reluctantly flipped herself onto her back and looked up, wincing against the harsh brightness of her light as she stared at the figures taking shape. "Er...za?"

She scrunched her eyebrows together in confusion and stared a long while at the redhead staring down at her with confusion and horror.

"Lucy! You look like you've been through a tornado, what happened to you?" The brown-eyed girl cried as she dropped to her knees to feel the sleepy girl's forehead and cheeks.

"What're you doing on the floor Lucy?" Natsu asked, scratching at his cheek and staring at her from above.

She stared at the pink-haired boy, still feeling tired, " 'm sleeping, dork," She replied, her voice rough from sleepiness. She brushed off Erza's concerned touches and rolled back onto her stomach, face against her hard floor. "Go 'way," She mumbled, closing her eyes and drifting back into sleep.

"Lucy! You can't sleep now, we have to know what happened to you? Who did this? I'll kill them!" Natsu vowed, Lucy predicted that he was probably holding his fist up in some sort of stupid looking pose.

"I did," She grumbled, relenting and kicking off the sheets as she forced herself to sit up.

"You did this to yourself?" Gray asked, raising a dark eyebrow as he stared inquisitively at her.

Lucy bobbed her head in a nod as she began unstrapping the weights on her arms, her muscles aching and joints creaking as she struggled to do so. She untied the lacing and began undoing each button carefully- personally she would have preferred velcro but she supposed that with the heavy amount of extra weight she would eventually have velcro would give way and fall off.

She let the ten pound weight fall to the ground with a loud thump and stared at her arm. The skin was peeling and raw, a few spots had a little bit of dry blood on them so she gingerly stroked the skin, frowning. She repeated the process to her other arm, trying to ignore her ex-teammates while they stared open-mouthed at her.

"You should go see Wendy so she can heal you," Erza said, obviously concerned.

Lucy sighed and shook her head. Did her former teammates really think she was incapable of dealing with a little bit of chafing? This kind of minor injury didn't warrant any kind of healing, she just needed to bandage her forearms the next time she wore her weights. She frowned and looked up at Natsu and Gray, who were bobbing their heads in agreement to Erza's statement.

"It was really irresponsible for you to let yourself get hurt like that," Erza continued, shaking her head as Lucy began undoing the weights in her legs- revealing similar chafing.

"C'mon, we'll take you to Wendy to get you healed up and then you should rest some." Gray murmured, offering up his hand.

Lucy's frown deepened and she turned away, forcing herself to stand up on her own, even though her legs were wobbling. Natsu rushed forward, grabbing a hold of her and she pulled away, internally disgusted. She wasn't a doll- why couldn't her friends see that? She was more than capable of sustaining injuries and dealing with a little overworked muscles.

"I'm not going to Wendy's, guys. I'm perfectly fine," She muttered, forcing Natsu's overprotective touch off of her and gingerly walking towards her kitchen.

Said pink-haired shared a concerned frown with his two team members before they followed her, hovering like mother ducks. Lucy groaned as she sat on her couch, an apple in her hand. She stretched her sore muscles, moaning in relief.

"Lucy you're injured, you have to," Gray pointed out, authoritative and concerned.

"Yea, we don't want you walking around hurt, you could cause yourself more damage," Erza added, frowning deeply and staring at Lucy's red arms and legs.

Natsu shook his head, "You shouldn't leave yourself injured Lucy."

Lucy's temper rose with each comment and she suddenly snapped the book she had pulled out to read shut, her eyebrows drawn together and an unhappy look on her face. Her brown eyes darkened with anger as she stood up abruptly, tossing her book onto the couch as she walked towards the door.

"Look guys, I really need to take a bath, so if that's all you came here for...," She held the door open and stared at them pointedly.

"Oh," Erza said softly, eyes looking hurt.

Lucy almost wanted to apologize to her downtrodden friends but then she remembered that they had come into her house- while she was sleeping- and woke her up only to insinuate that she was too weak to deal with a few chafing burns.

Gray walked reluctantly to the door, followed by Erza and finally Natsu who shot her a sad look of confusion. Lucy forced herself to look away as they walked out of her house and stood at the doorway.

"I guess we'll see you at the guild tomorrow?" Natsu asked, his voice softer, seemingly understanding for once the auras around him.

Lucy nodded curtly, still not looking at the trio, "Maybe," She murmured softly, before shutting the front door with a quiet click.

Breathing out a long sigh she didn't know she had been holding Lucy made her way to the bathroom, carelessly stripping off her clothes as she did so and fantasizing how good the scalding water was going to feel on her aching muscles.

* * *

**AN/ So I figured since I've been gone for basically a year that it's only right I have a short time skip. You didn't see any Yami or any of the dragons in this chapter because at this point they're more of a side plot than the main plot. At least in Lucy's mind. PLEASE READ THE NOTE BELOW :)**

**IMPORTANT:: Basically I wasn't planning on releasing this until Christmas but I need some help on how to proceed with the story so, I decided to post this and hopefully get some opinions from you guys.**

**First question, should Leo Minor be included in the story? Or any new keys really? I plan on maybe adding Leo Minor since he's a constellation, even though Loke hasn't ever mentioned a brother it would make sense seeing as he's Leo Major. I already planned for a few more silver keys but if you guys don't want me to I won't.**

**Second question, should there be another time-skip in a few chapters? Probably around Chapter ten-ish? I don't want to write up months of Lucy training and going on small missions before we get to the exciting stuff so I was thinking about a few months timeskip, thoughts?**

**Basically I just want any and all of your opinions, I'm really changing the story from the first two chapters I wrote. The way I was going was probably going to have a lot of Team Natsu-bashing but I realise that Lucy cares about her teammates and they care about her too. So, while they won't be around a lot and there might be some subtle hating nobody is really going to hate them. So that's that.**

**TELL ME ABOUT ANY MISTAKES, THANKS GUYS, I LOVE ALL OF YOU! (Does 4,000 words seem like a lot per chapter or not enough? I've been reading fics with like 10,000+ words a chapter and I guess these chapters just seem so short...) **


	4. iv the beginning

**This is the previous chapter three guys :/ I put up the wrong chapter and there isn't really a point of posting it later since a lot of you have probably already read it... SORRY FOR ANY CONFUSION YOU MIGHT HAVE HAD WITH LIKE AN ENTIRE CHAPTER MISSING OOPS. I'm honestly so mad at myself though. **

* * *

When Lucy stepped out of her apartment the next morning, five pound weights strapped over rolls of pristine white bandages, she was surprised to see Laxus Dreyar leaning against the wall beside the entrance. Her shock was apparently evident on her face because the blonde giant chuckled dryly and shook his head.

"You need to work on concealing your emotions- you're an open book Blondie." He taunted, once again giving her advice in the form of an insult.

"Why're you here, Laxus? And stop calling me Blondie for kami's sake!" She snapped at him, although when he pushed off the wall and began walking she followed him without complaint.

"I figured you'd probably run off to find some new field or clearing in a forest where you thought I wouldn't be able to find you so I decided to just come to you- I really liked the field yesterday, that rock is really comfortable." He snarked, as he led them on the same path she had taken yesterday to get to said field.

A frown marred her lips as she looked at the man in front of her, "Why do you keep watching me train, Laxus?"

She heard him sigh and turn around to glance at her for a moment, stormy eyes rolling in exasperation, "We've already been over this, _Lu-chan_," He tacked on the nickname, different from Blondie and also four times worse.

She shook her head vehemently, "Don't-" She shuddered, "Call me that, it's worse than Blondie and just wrong on so many levels."

Laxus grinned like a fox, "So then it's ok for me to call you Blondie?"

"No!" She snarled.

"Then, Lu-chan?"

"You're infuriating Laxus Dreyar," She hissed angrily, "And, no, we haven't been over why you keep following me around every morning to watch me train."

They had made their way into the clearing, grass sparkling with dew underneath the moon's light as sneaky tendrils of sunlight crept across the sky. There was no breeze today, the air sat still and smelled of dirt and cold. She inhaled deeply, relishing in the burning and watching Laxus easily hop onto the top of the large rock with a frown.

"I like a free show," He shouted down, obviously leering at her in her pink tank-top and short black shirt.

She gasped in indignation and crossed her arms over her chest, "You perverted bastard!" She growled, even as her face flushed bright red.

He laughed- the noise the same thundering that it always was (she was almost afraid that she had grown used to the sound of Laxus Dreyar _laughing_) as he shook his head in amusement. She watched him lay back against the rock, sprawling out comfortably and realized that he barely even watched- or leered- at her while she trained. She was tempted to call him out on his bullshit, because while she was sure her body was great to watch, she knew that why he was here every morning. She kept her mouth shut though, staring at the rock and wondering what his true motives were.

"Don't you have some goat to call or something?" Laxus interrupted her thought.

"Huh? Oh, yea!" She berated herself for forgetting why she was even here and unclipped said spirit's key from her waist.

She called Capricorn out and for a short moment basked in the warm golden light that lit up the clearing before it faded and in its wake appeared the lanky, well dressed goat-man with a pair of sunglasses on. Briefly she wondered if it was hard for him to see in the dark light of predawn but cast the thought aside when he spoke.

"Lucy-sama," She watched him customarily bow low before straightening to a height much taller than her and awaiting orders.

"Hey, Capricorn, sorry about passing out yesterday..." She let the sentence trail off, suddenly reminded that Laxus was the one who had taken her home, at least she was pretty sure he was because unless Capricorn had implemented his own magic to stay he would have disappeared soon after she passed out.

She coughed awkwardly, a light blush dusting her cheeks as she stumbled through her sentences, "Anyways, uhm, I put the other weights back on and I think yesterday was definitely a wake-up call on how far I am from ready to move on."

Capricorn nodded sagely, "In truth, Lucy-sama, you are not that far from ready to move up. You simply need to be trained in hand to hand combat, along with jumping, with your weights on. I would also like for you to be doing seventy-five laps when we warm up and another seventy-five when we finish, however you are already at fifty, and I am confident in your abilities."

Lucy murmured in agreement and stretched her still sore limbs out, listening to her joints popping as she did so, "So, how many laps this morning?"

Capricorn made a small humming noise before answering, "I would like fifty-five, sixty if possible."

Lucy groaned, not anticipating what her spirit had in store for her today as she dropped her belt with all of her keys to the ground and took off at a light jog around the field, following the path of trampled grass she had created the day before. But not before muttering a despondent, "Slave driver," at her spirit.

She felt her mind relax, focusing on the even pace of her breathing and the rhythmic sound of her feet hitting the ground. She didn't let her mind wander, paying sole attention to the task at hand.

* * *

Lucy panted, her muscles felt like they had they day before, flaming and screaming to be released from the task of holding her body up. She refused to comply, she vowed not to faint like she had yesterday. She knew her limbs were still sore from the strenuous activities yesterday but she hadn't expected today's workout to cause her to feel so weak. Her gulped in lungfuls of air as she muttered a relieved "sixty," and managed to smile brightly at her spirit, sweat shining in the morning sun.

Luckily a breeze had picked up and the air was (surprisingly) cooler than it had been that morning. Lucy broke into a fit of hacking coughs, doubling over as she felt as if her lungs were going to come out of her throat. Her coughs turned into enraged sputters as she felt something hard hit her in the back of the head.

The projectile was followed by a not-so-sorry sounding, "Oops!" coming from the occupied rock on the edge of the clearing she was standing in. Still coughing she pulled herself up and scowled at the grey-ish blue eyed man who was grinning wolfishly.

Her eyes searched for the offending item, intending to chuck it back at him before she realized it was her water bottle and frowned. Damn him. Still scowling she bent over and picked it up before popping it open and greedily gulping down the water which had, somehow, remained relatively cold. She didn't mind that the water was dripping from the corners of her mouth and spilling down her throat, rivulets running down her throat and underneath her shirt.

She gasped for air as she pulled away from the water and shot a narrow-eyed gaze at Laxus before turning to Capricorn, "Is that all for today?"

Her spirit seemed to think for a moment probably going through his mental checklist of 'Ways to Torture Lucy'. She had already been forced into one-hundred and fifteen situps, seventy pushups, a round of training which Capricorn deemed as 'helping her dexterity' which really meant he threw rocks at her and expected her to dodge them- halfway through that Laxus had joined in and she now had quite a few pebble shaped bruises littering her arms and legs. She was basically ready to die then, but after that Capricorn had decided on another unorthodox method of training which included making her attempt to climb up trees.

It failed miserably, to put it nicely. Lucy didn't realize how differently the extra twenty pounds affected her when she was up in the air. By the end she had fallen a grand total of twelve times and only managed to make it less than a third of the way up. Her hands were scratched up from tree branches and bracing her fall.

"No, I would like for us to meditate," Capricorn said finally, as he folded himself into a seated position in the middle of the clearing.

"Oh...kay?" Lucy agreed, confused but making her way to the middle and seating herself across from her instructor.

"I would like for you to find your magical core, feel it out, learn about it. Meditating can be a very enlightening experience- perhaps you can learn how to increase your magical container," Capricorn murmured, eyes closed behind the dark sunglasses.

Lucy's big brown eyes widened, "Increase my magical container? Didn't we already unlock the second origin? It can't get much bigger than that, can it?" She asked, confused but enthralled with the prospect of getting more magical power.

"Yes, but as you know the capacity of magic you can hold inside of you differs depending on the person and their skill level. Natsu Dragneel- for instance- has a larger magical container than you from constant use. It grows- that's how you are able to learn larger spells, and perform multiple summonings," Her spirit said, his voice flat but wise.

Lucy hummed, realising that what he said was true. She had previously never seen her magical container as something that could grow- except for with the assistance of the second origin. Thinking about it, it was very obvious that they could infact become larger- how else would S-class mages become S-class mages? How else would she learn difficult spells that drained her magic? She frowned and tried to focus on her magical container, trying to feel around for it and find hit's center.

She huffed, eyes snapping open, "I don't get it, how am I supposed to find my magical container, or whatever?"

Capricorn slowly opened his eyes, patient as ever, "Lucy-sama," He said softly, "This is not a task that will take but a few minutes, you must concentrate. Find a piece of your magic inside of you and follow it to the center. There you should be able to feel your containers, both your normal one and your second origin. Once you do that, focus on projecting the magic outwards, through your hands or another body part."

"Project it outwards?" She asked, the prospect seeming impossible.

Capricorn nodded his broad head, "This will take even longer for you, but by projecting it outwards and manipulating it into a sphere- or multiple spheres, you will be able to increase your control- and consequently increase your magical capacity. As I said though, this will take time- a long time."

Lucy nodded, her excitement bubbling over, "Do you think I'll be able to do it though?"

"I have faith, Lucy-sama," He murmured.

Lucy nodded and took a deep breath, relaxing her body and closing out the sounds of the outside world, focussing on her breathing and steadying it. Slowly the world began to slip away, first the chirping noise of the birds and then the smell of the grass and dirt. She breathed deeply before delving into herself, searching for a thread of magic, like Capricorn said.

It was confusing, because she wasn't quite sure how she was supposed to 'grasp' the strand of magic and 'follow' it, or really even how she was supposed to find it. However he trusted Capricorn when he said it would take time and she trusted him when he told her he had faith in her. She wasn't sure how long she spent 'searching' for her magic but eventually she _felt _something.

It was just a brief moment but she envisioned a shimmering golden thread- much like the light that encompassed her spirits when she summoned them- and she could feel the power it radiated. In her mind she tried desperatley to grab it but it slipped between her fingers like an eel and disappeared. Frustrated she continued her desperate search of her soul, feeling around for the warm, gold magic. She felt a thread of the magic and practically tackled it, latching on and refusing to let go as it traveled through her body.

The whole experience was quite weird because Lucy felt as though she was inside of herself but she knew her body was seated in a field facing Capricorn. Everything was black, everything except the gold strand of magic she was 'following'. Her breath hitched- at least in her mind as the strand darted through her fingers and became a part of the swirling mass she was 'looking?' at. Her mind was filled with the image of sparking warm, golden liquid-like light. Her fingers brushed her magic and she pulled them back hastily when they tingled with warmth.

Lucy breathed out, she was here. This was her magical container- now she only had to make the elusive strands of magic to follow her command and manifest in the form of a sphere. She could feel her magic now, sitting warmly somewhere between her heart and her stomach. She tried pushing with her mind. She tried to shove it out of her body, it moved but refused to budge. Trying harder she imagined it expanding outwards and her magic began to flow, but she felt it swirling around in her whole body, not her hands.

Forcing her frustration to dissipate- Capricorn said it would be hard- she tried to reel in the swirling magic from her limbs, bringing it back to the center and focusing on it. It swirled in an almost irritated manner, fighting her grip and slipping through the barriers she tried to put up. It continued to swirl about her body while she desperately tried to control it and bring it back to the container.

Meanwhile- oblivious to Lucy's internal struggle- Laxus was sitting up, wondering why everyone had gone so quiet. He looked towards where he assumed the blonde and her pet goat would be and his eyes widened in shock. Her spirit was sitting calmly, watching her as she sat there, her entire body enveloped in a soft golden glow- much like the one he had seen from her spirits when they were summoned. Her face was calm, her breathing relaxed but her magic was swirling around her.

He didn't even know it was possible to make your magic manifest as it was- magic, but she was projecting it out and it was their, winding around her body and trying to break free from what he assumed was her hold. Silently he jumped down from the rock, landing with a soft thud as he crept towards the magic, which caused it to stir more.

"Don't," Her spirit warned him as he reached out a hand to touch it, "Lucy-sama's magic is her own, I don't know what it would do should you come in contact with it."

"What do you mean?" Laxus demanded, drawing his hand back slightly as her magic lashed out at him.

"It's raw, unprocessed magic, Laxus-sama," The spirit said, as if it should be obvious.

After a blank look from Laxus he shook his head and continued, "This magic is what creates every other form of magic that mages use, their pure magic is filtered and used in whatever form they're proficient in. In its pure form magic is extremely hard to control," at that moment Laxus had to jump back as the magic lashed at him once again, shimmery gold swirls coming close to hitting him, "and unpredictable," The spirit added with a soft chuckle.

"So if she could harness this stuff?" He asked, thinking about the power that would come from fighting with pure magic.

Capricorn shook his head and stared hard at the blonde man, "Pure magic can not be harnessed without intense concentration- even then it would be impossible to wield it in a fight."

"Why? I'm sure with a lot of practice-" He was cut off as the goat man interrupted him.

"It is not that way anymore, Laxus-sama. Long ago, when magic was new, it was pure and harnessed that way- but very few people could use it because of the intense mental strength needed. Even now, only a small part of the population is able to use magic in it's diluted forms because of the difficulty. No matter how hard you train your magic it will not answer when you call- it will not fight in it's purest form without intense concentration and silence, which can not be obtained in the midsts of battle."

Laxus was too distracted by Capricorn's speech to notice the magic that was growing increasingly irritated until it lashed at him, burning him. He vaulted backwards, as his skin singed, his shoulder baring a irritated red mark that smelled like burnt flesh and Lucy Heartfilia. Capricorn leapt back to, goat hooves skidding in the grass as he backed away.

"Get back!" The spirit shouted, jumping onto Laxus's rock.

Laxus followed suit and leapt onto the rock, standing above the field where Lucy's magic was reaching out, touching grass and turning it into little ashes.

"What's happening?" He hissed at the goat spirit, eyes wide.

"She can't reel her magic back in," The spirit observed, "It'll explode outwards soon."

"Explode?!" Laxus snarled, "Explode how?"

"It won't be a large explosion if that's what you're thinking, but once she releases her weak hold she had on it it'll explode back into the air- she won't be harmed." Capricorn said, voice impassive as ever.

Feeling only slightly reassured Laxus watched with wary eyes as her magic sparked in the air.

Lucy could feel her magic breaking through the hold she was trying to keep. It was raging inside her like a fire and she could feel it around the outside of her body, swirling through the air and lashing out at the nearest thing. She could feel Laxus and Capricorn around her- her magic sensed them and it reacted negatively, trying to attack Laxus as he backed away. It didn't go after Capricorn, the spirit fed off her magic to stay in her world and thus felt like more of her magic.

She tried desperatley to force back her magic- but it wasn't complying, instead it simmered and pushed against her hold, slowly gaining more room as her strength began to weaken. She felt it before it happened, her magic broke her hold and zagged towards Laxus, the swirling substance flicking his shoulder and burning it before it was reined in. She could taste it on her tongue, which was the weirdest part. Not burnt flesh or anything but she could almost taste his magic in her mouth.

It tasted like lightening, of course, even though she had never tasted lightening she knew that if she were, it would taste like this. Spinning and twisting around her magic tasted for either of the two people who had been near her moments before, but she couldn't sense either of them. Lucy's concentration was waning- she knew, and she would have to release her hold on her magic at some point. She hoped Laxus and Capricorn were far enough away because she could feel her magic demanding release.

She regretted ever trying to force it out of her body in the first place, she should have got used to it, learned how to wield it within her body before trying to push it out of her body. She mentally braced herself as she let her control over her magic weaken, and it began rushing out into the air. Not all of it of course, her magic container wasn't empty but she had forced a good portion of her magic outside her body- another mistake on her part but she guessed that she really didn't have much control at the time over how much she let out.

Her eyes popped open to see the golden shimmering wisps of her magic exploding against the air. Automatically she sprang back, but her magic didn't harm her- even though the grass around her was burnt to a crisp. Lucy wobbled, seeing spots in her vision for a moment as the sudden movement caused her world to spin. Falling to her knees she breathed deeply, suddenly feeling weak and drained. She could feel the strain that Capricorn was putting on her by feeding off her magic which had been reduced by at least half.

"Capricorn?" She called out weakly, looking around before her eyes landed on the goat spirit and Laxus standing on top of the boulder.

"Yes, Lucy-sama?" He asked, hopping of the large stone and walking calmly to her side.

"Could you go back to the spirit world? I lost about half of my magic during that whole," She waved her hands around, "thing."

Capricorn nodded, agreeing before vanishing in a soft shimmery light. Lucy groaned, standing back up and making her way over to her belt and key ring, ready to walk home and colapse into her bed. She fastened the belt, her keyring and her fleuve d'étoiles around her waist before stretching her limbs and looking over at Laxus. He was staring at her with a little bit of shock and wariness, like he half expected her magic to attack him again.

She could still taste lightening on her tongue and she could spot the burn that her enraged magic had caused. Smiling she wiggled her fingers at him and began walking off.

"You smell like stars, Blondie," He called after her from his perch.

"You taste like lightening," She shouted back, not turning around, "Blondie," She added, smiling to herself.

All in all, it was a good day. Sure, her body felt like it had been run over by a stampede, her mind was absolutely exhausted from the effort of trying to control her wayward magic and she was half-drained but she felt good. Capricorn's training regimen was working- she could feel the muscles in her arms in legs- e had showed her away to increase her magic container and even if it didn't work right away she knew she was already making great progress.

Smiling to herself Lucy hummed on the way back to her apartment. When she was in sight of the building she stopped dead in her tracks, her mind making mental calculations before her good mood dissipated and she was left a frantic mess. Her rent was due in...

_one, two, three... five... seven! _

... seven days!

* * *

The small antique shop smelled like dust and old books, just the way Yami preferred it. He watched as a little boy tugged on his father's hand, leading him through isles and isles of junk covered in dust. The little boy was wearing a bright blue shirt to match his sparkling eyes and there was a wide smile adorning his lips. He stared at his father with sparkling ocean eyes as he picked up a little dragon figurine- way behind a bunch of other dust-covered antiques.

The little boy chattered excitedly to his father as Yami made his way over, remarking about the shiny scales and the tiny brown eyes. His chubby child fingers held the figurine with care though, and he pet it's head with a little finger as he marveled at the dragon's beauty.

"That there is the King of the Forest," Yami murmured, pointing a long crooked finger at the green and brown figurine the boy was holding.

"Really?" The little boy breathed, wiping brown locks out of his eyes as he stared at the detailed dragon.

It's eyes were a rich brown, scales different shades of green and brown, almost as if the dragon had been sitting for ages and been covered by scale was painted a different set of shades, each detail painstakingly drawn on A dark grey chain was locked around it's wings and body but was made to look as if it had been snapped, the little dragon's wings were by it's side, one looking as though it was prepared to open, free at last from the chains binding it to the ground, it's tail in the air as if ready to strike.

"Really," Yami confirmed, his calloused old hands closed around the little boy's as he stared at him kindly, "You may keep it, for free, but you must promise to always keep it safe- and never give it to anyone else unless you feel as though they really deserve it."

The little boy nodded fiercely, hands clutching the figurine tightly as he stared back at Yami, "I promise oji-san, I won't even show nobody."

Yami smiled softly, and nodded his head.

"C'mon, Kiyoshi! If we don't leave now we'll be late for the train to take us home!" The boy's father called, walking towards the front desk with a few miscellaneous souvenirs.

Yami hobbled up to the front counter, smiling kindly at the man, "You aren't from in town?" He asked curiously.

"No sir, came to visit my sister, she just had a little baby boy," The man said, pulling out his wallet to pay for his purchase.

Yami smiled and congratulated the man before bagging up their items and smiling once more at the little boy, who clutched the dragon tightly in his hands.


	5. v the beginning

**[an] Ah! Merry Christmas, or Happy Holidays, whichever you prefer. Truthfully I'm an atheist but I'm basically the only one in my family so I find no reason to get hung up on such formalities because- I mean- PRESENTS RIGHT!? **

**Anywho, here is the next chapter as something of a Christmas gift to all of you. I really liked this chapter, mostly just because of the last few hundred words since most of the chapter seems more of a filler-ish chapter. Same with the next chapter- actually I guess chapter five and six don't really have anything exciting going on, at least not any really plot-filled, life-changing, story-altering, exciting events or anything. Just more Laxus and Lucy slowly moving from hatred to a little less than that. THE LINE BETWEEN LOVE AND HATE GROWS THINNER FOLKS! (We're still a looong-ish way from anything more but I think it's gonna be a nice ride guys :)**

* * *

Lucy gently pulled her hair from the messy bun she had thrown it in so she could train, wicing slightly as strands caught in the hair tie as she let down her golden locks and massaged her scalp. She closed her eyes for a brief moment, dark lashes fluttering as her chocolate orbs disappeared from sight. She sighed, trying to clear her mind for a brief moment and relax before she had to leave the comfort of her home. She slowly stripped off her clothes, scooping them into a container full of mostly the same thing- tanktops and flexible shorts.

Instead of sleeping, like she had planned, Lucy had to go to the guild and hopefully get an easy but well paying job. She groaned as she slipped into the bath, water washing over her sweaty skin and soothing her burning muscles. Honestly the only thing she wanted to do was sleep but she knew it was impossible with her rent due in a week. She was a few ten thousand jewels short of her rent from her last mission with Team Natsu almost a month ago and she needed extra so she could pay for food and other necessities until she deemed herself ready to take on more difficult solo missions.

She grabbed her shampoo and lathered her blonde locks in the sweet strawberry smelling stuff, sighing in satisfaction. She knew from experience that taking down a monster would pay somewhere around jewels and it seemed easy enough to do alone. She hummed to herself as she massaged the shampoo into her scalp. She didn't want to take any missions that would be to hard for her, but at the same time she needed something that would provide challenge enough to test her recent strength increases.

Dunking her head underneath the water she contemplated her choices. The guild often had a lot of small odds and ends jobs- she could take on a few of those if she wanted something easy. She also knew that they had bigger jobs like taking down thieves and bandits that would pay more but that would risk her getting injured or something going wrong.

Lucy rubbed her brown eyes, trying to lessen the irritation from accidentally getting soap in her eyes. She gnawed on her lower lip and stared at her wall while she scrubbed her body, careful not to scrub too hard on her forearms and legs where the red chafing was still visible. She grumbled under her breath about stupid people and stupid decisions while she bathed and contemplated.

When the water began getting cold she knew she had to leave her watery cocoon and make a decision. Lucy had never really done a solo mission and she wasn't sure how noble her decision to give Lisanna her spot was now. She didn't know how this whole solo mission deal worked or even how she was going to get it done but she knew it was too late to give up now. She could do this, she had to do this.

Steeling herself she stepped out of the bath and wrapped a fluffy white towel around her body, snuggling into its warmth and shivering. She made her way into her bedroom and firmly shut the door, locking her window just to be sure Natsu didn't decide to pay her a visit. Although her best-friend had been surprisingly absent in her life since she gave up Team Natsu, she could sometimes still feel his warmth on her bed when she woke up in the morning and it made her smile to know that she hadn't lost her best friend. She remembered telling her team she would see them at the guild and wondered if they would be there.

She mumbled to herself as she looked through her closet and dresser. She needed something that would cover her arms and legs- no doubt she would get a bunch of concerned stares that would make her angry should anyone see all of the tiny bruises speckling her body. She cursed Laxus mentally and looked towards the back of her closet where she kept her winter clothes. Regularly Lucy prefered more revealing clothes but she supposed today she would have to find something mildly modest.

After twenty minutes of desperately searching for a pair of jeans Lucy was about to give up. She didn't own jeans! She was an attractive female and she prided herself on her appearance- why on earth would she wear jeans? She groaned and slumped onto the floor, wanting nothing more to bang her head against the wood.

It was at that moment that Lucy spotted them- her saviors. A shiny, black pair of thigh-high boots peeked at her from the mound of other calf-length boots and miscellaneous shoes. She gasped, scrambling forward and grabbing them with a renewed feeling of hope. Granted they were strangely reminiscent of Lucy Ashley's- her Edolas counterpart- thighhighs but Lucy figured they managed to keep her legs covered without forcing her to look like an old lady. She was pretty sure she only owned a single pair of jeans, the dark blue skinny jeans she had worn the day Bixlow pushed her into the river and they were wherever Mira had taken her wet clothes to.

She grabbed a pair of stockings to go with the long black boots and rummaged through her closet with a happy hum. She searched for something that would cover most her arms and her stomach. Her stomach and upper arms especially were littered with purple and yellowish bruises. She picked a light blue mini dress sort of thing that lacked straps or any sort of arm covering. Luckily the dress had a pair of ruffled almost-gloves that she slipped to her upper forearms, tying the ribbon in a cute bow. They were a matching light blue and flared out around her wrists.

Suddenly she was reminded that she really did need a new wardrobe- she was after all, trying to start a new chapter in her life. She twirled around in the mini dress and boots, smiling brightly and brushing out her growing blonde locks. That was another thing she had thought needed a change, her hair. She usually cut it before it got much longer than her mid-back but she was contemplating letting it grow out.

Sighing and shaking her head she pulled her hair into two cute pigtails on either side of her head and flashed herself a cute smile in the mirror. She sat on her bed, getting ready to put on her weights, which she realized belatedly, would have to go over her boots. She wondered if she could get something figured out with them- maybe find some way to make them look presentable or like an intentional part of her outfit. Shaking her head again at all of the responsibilities that had piled up, Lucy pulled out a fresh roll of bandages and began wrapping them around her arms.

Technically her chafing was healed enough to not cause her a problem but she figured she might as well get used to the bandages after the damage a new set of weights had caused her after only a single day. besides, she thought they gave her look a certain edge- showing that she wasn't all sunshine and daisies. Lucy grabbed her belt- equipped with it's standard pouch, keyring and her fleuve d'étoiles, and buckled it around her waist, right where the skirt part of the dress flared out.

Lucy found herself leaving her cozy apartment for the second time that day- this time heading towards her guild, which she had managed to almost completely avoid for three weeks. She winced at the mere thought of Levy's sad eyes and for the upteenth time that day Lucy found herself sighing loudly as she walked along the canal's edge, her body throbbing dully.

* * *

"Lu-chan!" Levy screeched as the blonde threw open the guild door with a smile painted on her lips.

The smile turned truly genuine as she caught sight of her tiny blue-haired friend. The petite girl was grinning broadly, hazel eyes sparkling as a dainty hand waved furiously in the air. Gajeel and Pantherlily were beside her, covered in the shadows per usual, although it didn't seem to bother any of them. Lucy stepped forward, figuring she might as well say hello and catch up before she had to pick out a mission. She spotted a familiar head of blonde hair sitting in the corner table and her eyes flickered over to glance at him for a moment. He was with his team, looking bored with his head resting in his hand as his steel grey eyes took in his surroundings. Slowly he met her gaze, raising a fine blonde brow before smirking at her.

She couldn't help the angry blush that covered her face and she looked away, scowling. She could hear him laughing inside her head, although she was sure his expression remained neutral. Pouting slightly she shook her head and walked towards Levy who was practically bouncing in her seat with excitement, eyes following her the whole way.

"Hey Levy-chan, Gajeel," She nodded at the latter in greeting as her bright smile returned.

Levy bounded out of her seat and caught Lucy in a hug, squeezing the breath out of her. The air in her lungs left with a whoosh as she struggled to return the hug, a calm, happy feeling settling over her. She clutched her female best friend just as tightly, content to remain this way- even if she couldn't breathe. If there was one thing in her hectic life that wasn't going to change with all the time spent away it was Levy, and for that she was glad beyond belief.

"I missed you," Lucy mumbled, suddenly embarrassed as her eyes glittered with tears.

Levy choked back a sob, apparently feeling the same way, "I haven't seen you in almost three weeks Lu-chan."

"I'm sorry."

"I know."

With one last squeeze the girls pulled away, eyes shining with tears but both smiling broadly as they gasped for air. Lucy laughed and Levy followed suit as the two stared at each other, overcome with giggles. Lucy panted as the laughter slowly subsided and Levy shot one last smile at her before sitting down.

"Sit with us?" She asked, a little hesitantly.

Lucy felt bad that her friend sounded so worried at the prospect, as if she might say no. She nodded her head, overcome with guilt and sat with Levy on the side of the table that wasn't covered with weird shadows. She watched Gajeel's red eyes glint with a comically evil glint as Pantherlily sat beside him calmly.

"Hey Bunny-girl," Gajeel said in greeting, a small smirk gracing his lips, "Shrimp's been missing you a lot, kind of a dick mood not to show up or anything for three weeks," She watched the smirk slip of Gajeel's face as he turned a frown on her.

Her guilt spread, churning her stomach as she tried to smile sheepishly, "'M sorry, really I am," She mumbled, staring at the table.

"Oh hush up," Levy said with a frown, "Gajeel's just trying to provoke you Lu-chan. I'm glad your here now, at least."

Lucy looked up at her friend, a grateful smile tugging at the corner of her mouth, "Thank's Levy-chan, that means a lot to me," She frowned suddenly, remembering her reason for showing up, "I guess I won't be able to stay and catch up much- I need to take a mission to pay for my rent that's due in a week."

"Oh," Levy mumbled, disappointment seeping into her tone.

"I'll be back before you know it, and then we can spend the full day together, alright?" She knocked shoulder's with the pouty blue-haired girl, smiling.

"Promise?" Levy asked, coffee colored eyes shining with gratitude and hope.

Lucy held up her pinky with a soft smile and Levy hood her own, smaller, pinky around it. Her smile widened, "Promise."

Levy laughed again, shoulder bumping against the blonde's with a giggle, "Good," She said brightly, and began chattering away.

"You smell familiar, Bunny-girl," Gajeel said suspiciously a few minutes later.

Confused, Lucy's eyebrows drew together, "Of course I do, Gajeel. I am familiar."

Gajeel shook his head, inhaling deeply through his nose, "No, you smell like something else, kind of like..."

She watched his red eyes widen and quickly scan the room, landing on the hulking blonde man sitting with his team, looking like he was half-asleep. Gajeel's eyes darted back to her, then to Laxus again, then back to sniffed the air delicately again.

"Bunny-girl," He started, a confused and hard-edge to his eyes.

Levy was watching on with confusion, but curious to know what her black-haired friend was talking about. She watched Lucy's doe eyes widen in panic and then her face flush a violent shade of red as she stumbled over a sentence.

"Ehem, uhm," She stuttered, trying to think of anything to change the subject.

Gajeel continued with slow, growing suspicion, "Bunny-girl, why do you smell like light-"

"So, I've been training!" She interrupted, a big, fake smile planted on her face as she shot a dark, meaningful glare at Gajeel.

Levy clapped her hands together excitedly, more than glad to help her friend out of whatever sticky situation she had put herself in, "That's fantastic, is that why you've been gone forever?"

Lucy laughed, not missing the fat that her friend was staring at her with a look that said she would get an answer to the confused almost-conversation that happened a moment before. She smiled weakly, eyes darting over to look at Gajeel, who was glowering, and then a quick glance at Laxus, whose eyes were trained on her, a curious expression on his face. She coughed lightly and turned back to look at her-hazel eyed friend, nodding in confirmation.

"Mhm, been working most mornings with Capricorn," She scratched the back of her head sheepishly, a habit she picked up from her male ex-teammates, "Usually I'm too tired afterwards to do much else other than shower and eat before passing out."

Levy laughed at that, and the girls quickly jumped into conversation, previous conflict aside. Gajeel watched her carefully, eyes sliding over to shoot glares at the blonde man at another corner table who was smirking at him, a thin burn visible on his shoulder. Gajeel inhaled deeply through his nose, smelling strawberries, stars, ink and books- courtesy of both mages he was sitting by.

Underneath the strong smell of strawberries that wafted around the brown-eyed girl there was the slight smell of her magic. She smelled like stars,- whatever they smelled like- ink from writing and sweat from, no doubt, the constant training she had mentioned. However, after another deep inhale Gajeel caught a whiff of what he had smelled earlier. Underneath everything there was the faint scent of a storm lingering on her. Not the kind of scent the air carried after it rained but the distinct scent of crackling lightning and booming thunder.

* * *

Lucy smiled softly at her blue-haired friend and her silent red-eyed companion, "Okay, Levy-chan," She frowned regretfully, "I really do gotta go and pick a mission now."

Levy smiled sadly, "I understand Lu-chan, it's alright, really," She paused before her eyes twinkled, "But, you gotta come back and spend the day with me, m'kay?"

"'Course, Levy chan," Said blonde smiled a squinty-eyed smile and flashed the three figures a peace sign, her tongue sticking out.

"See ya around, Bunny-girl. Come back alive, yea?" Gajeel said with an almost bored tone, but she knew he meant what he said.

She nodded her head, muttering under her breath, "What's with you people and nicknames?"

Gajeel- dragonslayer that he was- heard her, and the metal piercings that he passed as eyebrows pulled together, "What people?" He murmured back, soft enough for Levy not to hear.

Lucy's eyes widened nervously as she fake coughed, "Well, see you guys in a week or less!" She exclaimed, skipping away.

She made her way over to the mission request bored, her smile slowly fading as she stared at the mass of haphazardly taped papers. She pursed her lips, cocking a hand on her hip and tilting her head slightly, blonde pigtails following the movement. Humming softly to herself she considered her choices as her eyes flitted from paper to paper, taking in all of the requests.

A lot of them were way out of her league so her big brown eyes slowly roamed towards what she assumed was a section full of requests for mages with lesser skills. Moving slowly, she stepped her way across the mission board, making notes of ones she thought might work- taking down some sort of weak monster terrorizing civilians, defeating a bunch of civilian bandits, catching a thieving mage...

"Oh! Hello Nab-san," Lucy smiled apologetically as she bumped into the man standing in front of the mission board, stroking his faint beard, "Sorry about that, guess I'm a little distracted," She said with an embarrassed chuckle.

"Ah, no problem Lucy-san," The mage replied cheerily, never taking his eyes off the requests in front of him.

"Lucy is fine Nab-san, what're you looking for?" She asked the man as his black eyes roamed, hand flicking over requests.

"Then you must call me Nab," The tall man replied, his short black hair shaking as he released his grip on a mission request, "I am looking for a mission, a mission only I can do- a special mission," He said solemnly, nodding his broad head.

"Oh..., I see..." Lucy murmured, remembering that Nab Lasaro basically always stood at the request board, searching for his "special mission". She was going to ask if perhaps he wanted to go on a mission with her until she remembered that she had asked him once and he flat out refused her.

"Have you seen Team Natsu at all today?" She questioned, once again remembering her conversation with them when she was half-asleep

She hadn't seen them in the almost two hours she had been a the guild and she wondered where her boisterous crew of friends might be at. She really did miss them, even if they treated her like she was fragile and were always eating her food- they were still her friends, her very first ones at that.

"They were here earlier," Nab informed her, "Broke the mission board again before taking one," The russet-skinned man shook his head as his face scrunched up in anger.

Lucy stifled a laugh at the expense of the obviously riled up man and shook her own head, "I see, do you know when they'll be back?"

"A few days from now, I'd imagine," He said to her and then softer, under his breath, "Hopefully never,"

Lucy coughed to cover up the fit of giggles that was threatening to spill as she murmured a soft goodbye to the ever present Nab and scooted away, finally allowing herself to chuckle quietly with a shak of her head. It sounded exactly like something Team Natsu would do, breaking the mission board. She shook her head to clear her thoughts and huffed as she stared at all if the missions.

Lucy sighed in exasperation and finally plucked out the three missions she had seen earlier- monster, bandits, thief. The thief job pain more- a whopping one-hundred and fifty thousand jewels, while the monster defeating job was the same amount as her rent, seventy-thousand jewels. The group of civilian bandits was one-hundred and ten thousand jewels, being that it was a simple group of civilians and not a thieving mage. She gnawed on her lower lip before stepping over to the bar counter and flashing Mira a smile.

"Just a moment and I'll have a mission I need you to approve of, Mira," The blonde said, worrying her lip as she squeezed her big brown eyes shut tightly and randomly shuffled the papers.

She shuffled them for a good minute and then spread each paper out on the counter, eyes still shut tightly. Breathing deeply and forcing her eyes even more closed she hesitantly ran her fingers over the paes delicately.

_Eeny, meeny, miny, moe..._

Releasing the breath she was holding she snatched the furthest left paper as her eyes flashed open. It was turned around on the blank side so she scrambled to flip it over, hands shaking. This would be her very first solo mission as a mage without a team. Her eyebrows pulled together in frustration as she realized the page was upside down and she quickly flipped it upright, eyes scanning the page.

It was the group of civilian bandits. Lucy was okay with it, figured she would pick the middle paying job- something easier than a rogue mage thieving from a nearby town but harder than a weak monster picking on innocents. She let out a huge breath she didn't know she was holding and beamed as she held the paper at arm's length, smiling at it. The mission was located in a rather small city, only a small distance away from Hargeon Town- meaning she could travel by train most of the was and then head west for a day or so until she reached the small village.

"Alright! Mira, this is the one," Lucy said excitedly, bouncing over to the oldest Strauss sister, her eyes glittering.

The white-haired girl smiled kindly at Lucy and plucked the sheet from her white-knuckle grip, eyes scanning over it briefly before she beamed back at Lucy, "Alrighty then, I'll just put this information," She plucked a large book from underneath the counter and heaved it up onto the bar, putting down with a slam and a bright smile, "Here!"

Mira flicked to a page near the back with a happy grin and scanned the page once more before grabbing a pen and jotting down information, her hair bouncing as she quickly inserted the information into the giant book.

"Just to make sure if something bad happens, you go missing, or someone needs you, we know where you are." She murmured kindly, tapping the now closed book.

"Thank-you Mira, I suppose I'll leave tomorrow," She placed her hand on her hip, "If Natsu or any of them come looking for me don't tell them where my mission is, ok? Lucy asked with a cheery smile.

"Okay... but why?" Mira questioned, not unkindly.

"Hm, well, if you tell them where I went I don't doubt they won't try to follow me and help me with the mission anyways," She laughed, "Not that I don't love them but I actually need the money for something other than repairing damage caused by them."

Mira giggled as well and nodded her head, "Alright then, have a good time on your mission, Lucy!"

Lucy waved to the snowy-haired girl one last time before exiting the guild with an extra spring in her step, mission request clutched securely in her grip. She was going on a mission, by herself, for the very first time- and she couldn't be more excited.

Suddenly exhausted from the day, her body was still pretty beat up and sore and her magic still pretty drained, Lucy sighed and slumped slightly, deciding to hurry home and sleep as much as possible before leaving to train in the morning with Capricorn and then taking off for her mission.

* * *

"Otousan?" A soft voice whispered as the bruised and bloody figure of a boy reached out to the unmoving lump beside him.

Weakly the small boy pushed matted, bloody, brown hair away from his equally as bloody face, tears leaking from ocean-blue eyes.

"Otousan," The boy whimpered, dragging himself towards the figure, torn up blue shirt sliding across the dirty ground, "Wake up, Otousan, we have to help Okaasan, please."

He pressed his tiny, bleeding and broken body against the lifeless corpse, stealing away the little warmth that was left in it. His free clenched the body's shirt tightly as he sobbed, burying his face into the bloody clothing. Clenched tightly in his free hand was a tiny little dragon figurine, brown eyes winking with life as it rasped pitifully, moss-colored body struggling in the oblivious boys white-knuckled grip.

"Please!" The boy sobbed louder, his wails echoing into the starry night sky as he lay crumped on the ground, shivering as a breeze swept through the trees.

Too weak to move the blue-eyed boy waited for morning, praying that someone would find him. The tiny dragon wiggled out of the weak boy's grip, flapping it's wings and landing with a stumble onto the ground. Rasping again the mini figurine-turned-dragon stared at the scene, tears welling up in it's eyes. As the tiny saline drops fell to the bloody earth flowers began to sprout, a myriad of colors blossoming underneath the moonlight as a son mourned the loss of his father- and most likely his mother as well. A few feet away a tiny dragon sat vigil, awoken by a young, but undoubtedly kind- of broken- soul.

* * *

**[an] Hope you guys liked it! Don't be afraid to leave a review, I practically live off the things. The next update should be New Years and then chapter seven should be out anywhere from after January 1st to Valentine's Day. My hope is to update at least once a month (however, march is a very busy month- i have like five family member's birthdays all in the span of like a week. oh wait! actually six, two of them (my mom's dad and my dad's dad) were born on the same day. haha, weird amiright)**

**AS ALWAYS TELL ME MY ERRORS AND I WILL ATTEMPT TO FIX SAID MISTAKES I AM ONLY HUMAN OKAYY BYE**


	6. vi the beginning

**AN/ It's actually two-ish hours after new year's for me but my drunk brother came over and I had to take his keys away so he wouldn't drive anywhere but it's done now so... :) **

**Ok, so, I kind of have the chapters split into 'acts' or 'arcs' I guess. Basically these were all a prologue. Nothing too exciting, basic background information and setting foundation for the plot and the relationships that come later in the story. The next five-ish (Well, it could be anywhere from the next three to the seven chapters) are going to be Lucy's first solo mission 'arc' which should entail her mission and the aftermath of her mission. After those chapters will be the other timeskip (probably) and then we'll see a stronger, more independent Lucy while getting into the S-class trials and the dragon figurines. Woo! **

* * *

The sky looked like a can of vermillion paint had been spilled on it and had leaked all over the purple-blue colors of the night skies. The stars were twinkling dimly as clouds rolled overhead, their wispy forms spread thin like pieces of grey cottoncandy. The air smelled faintly of rain which was a bit odd given that it was the middle of autumn but she figured with the way the weather had been for the past month or so it was too be expected. Lucy was constantly trying to keep up with the change in weather- one morning it was sunny and warm, the next it was stormy, then windy, then frigid. It was like trying to predict how many blades of grass there were in the entire town.

Lucy stretched her arms above her, tank top riding up to reveal her flat tummy, which was gaining faint abb lines the more she worked herself. Her muscles rippled underneath her skin as she strained them, popping her sore joints. The soreness was a feeling she had grown used to, it was as natural as the extra weights on her. She was coming close to the month marker of her beginning training- which meant she had spent nearly everyday for a month with the presence of Laxus Dreyar hanging over her.

Granted, most days they didn't really talk or interact much other than the insults when she showed up. He usually took to lounging near the end of whatever clearing she had chosen, or up in the fork of tree. Or, most recently, on a large, flat topped boulder he had claimed as his own even though they had only visited twice. Sighing and shaking her head Lucy resumed her leisurely walk on the path to said field. She rubbed her brown eyes tiredly and stifled a yawn as she stared up into the fading night sky. She hadn't written as much to her mother recently, mainly because she didn't have much to write about, but Lucy hoped that would change when she went on the solo mission she was due to leave for after her training session.

Navigating her way through the woods, she reached the growingly familiar clearing and hummed happily as she took in her surroundings. She was truly beginning to love the place, already the outside ring of the field had a worn and trampled path from her numerous laps, the broken stick still planted firmly in the ground. The middle of the clearing was now a circle of singled grass blades from the previous day. Surrounding it on all sides were big trees, orange and red leaves rustling and twirling to the ground and, in the corner of the field was the big boulder, flat-topped and already hosting a lazy blonde.

"Blondie," He said in greeting, laying against the stone's surface with a hand thrown over his eyes.

"Blondie," She echoed, hoping to annoy him out of calling her such an infuriating and generic nickname.

She couldn't see the amused smile that tugged at the corners of his lips as he pulled himself up to stare at her. Today's color of tank top was green- she usually wore a different color each day of the week. How one person could even want to own so many different colored tops he wouldn't know but so far he had seen sixteen different color of tops, a variety of shades and colors. Her legs were barely covered by a pair of flexible, short, black shorts that she had taken to wearing.

Lucy fingered Loke's key, contemplating whether she should call him out. She hadn't seen her cocky spirit since Capricorn had started her training- after all, Loke had told her not to call for him until she had built up stamina and muscle mass. She had stopped asking Capricorn when he thought that would be after the first week and he told her that Loke's training would be twice as tiring as his. Shaking her head in resignation Lucy moved her hand towards Capricorn's key, rubbing her thumb over the surface lovingly before calling out her spirit-turned-instructor.

"Hey Capricorn," She murmured, smiling at the summoning.

"Good morning, Lucy-sama, The spirit replied, bowing at the waist in greeting- as he usually did.

"Uhm...," She paused, turned to look at Laxus for a moment before turning back to Capricorn, "I called you out today for more talk than training, I suppose," At the disapproving look from her spirit she hurried on, "Not that we won't be training, of course!"

Capricorn nodded in understanding and promptly fell to the grass, sitting and staring at her expectantly. She lowered herself onto the dewy grass, already used to the wet feeling against her clothes and legs and breathed out, staring at her waiting spirit.

"I guess, I want to start with a progress report. You know, how's my training going, when will I be ready to switch to heavier weights, that sort of thing," She paused, "Oh, and try to be impartial. You know, pretend you're talking to someone else about my progress instead of me, don't sugar coat anything."

"Ah," Her spirit said amicably, "Please give me a moment to decide how I would like to proceed then, Lucy-sama,"

Nodding her head and biting her lip, Lucy turned to stare at Laxus, who lay sprawled out on his rock. She was debating with herself whether she should also ask him for his thoughts on her progress. If he took the question seriously she was sure she would get a lot of valuable guidance and information out of it- and she was sure he wouldn't sugarcoat anything he told her. However, there was the possibility he would just tell her she sucked and should give up. Exhaling loudly and figuring she had nothing to lose, Lucy called up to him.

"Hey, uhm... Laxus?" She asked loudly.

The spiky blonde sat up and looked at her, "What'dya want, Blondie?"

She hissed at the nickname, but didn't say anything about it, "I was wondering, since you've seen me training for the past three weeks... maybe, you would be willing to also, um, you know... report on my progress?" She asked, lamely.

He was too far and too high up for her to be able to see his facial expression or the raising of his eyebrows but she did see as he jumped down from the rock after a debilitating moment, "Why?"

She gulped as he began walking towards her, "Well, see... You're an S-class mage... and I want to be an S-class mage and I figured maybe I could wheedle some helpful information or something out of you?" She said, sounding more like she was asking than telling.

He stopped, towering above her and Capricorn's sitting forms and staring at her with intense, unreadable eyes, "I'm not going to be nice, Blondie," He warned, sounding a bit reluctant.

A large smile spread across Lucy's heart shaped face as she brushed her hair away from her eyes. Her heart leapt in elation, an evaluation of her training from Laxus- who seemed as if he was going to be actually helpful- would be, no doubt, a fantastic learning experience.

"I don't doubt that for a second," She beamed, "Take a seat, sensei!"

She watched him glower at the nickname, reacting almost as she did when he called her Blondie. Grinning wickedly, she catalogued it in her mind for future use, no doubt the broody blonde would be annoyed at the prospect of being anyone's 'sensei', probably because teaching was a form of helping and she knew how much the blue-eyed man hated helping people.

"Capricorn, would you like to begin, or do you need more time?" Lucy asked politely.

Her spirit shook his head, "Please allow Laxus-sama to report first, I am still thinking about a new training regimen I shall propose to you,"

Lucy nodded and then turned her doe eyes on Laus, waiting expectantly.

"So, uh, how do I do this?"

Lucy giggled and shook her head, "Just, tell me what you think- what kind of progress I've made, y'know. Like, how has my stamina improved since three, almost four, weeks ago? How can I improve it more? What am I doing wrong, what am I doing right? That sort of thing."

Laux stared at her for a long moment, "All right," He said slowly, "But you owe me a favor, Blondie. If I'm helping you with all this shit, you owe me one,"

"Okay, what do you want?" She asked, raising a brow at him, "Anything as long it's not sexual, I definitely won't sleep with you," She said, glaring.

"Alright, fair enough. I don't have anything specific in mind, but when I cash in my favor you can't say no, got it?" He stared at her, and then extended a hand, "Shake on it,"

Lucy stared into his eyes for a moment, and then back at his large hand and, making a split second decision, she thrust her own hand forward and grasped his hand, giving it a firm shake before pulling away.

"Now help me," She grumbled, wiping her hand on the grass mostly for show.

"Well, Blondie, you've definitely improved- you can run a lot more laps than in the beginning without exhausting and your breathing stays pretty even now throughout the training. Back when you first started training your breathing was pretty erratic," Laxus scratched the back of his head and looked up, thinking.

"And?" Lucy asked a moment later, brushing stray hairs that had escaped from the bun on top of her hair off her neck.

"I'm thinking, shut up!" Laxus snapped.

"Aye, aye... _Sensei_." She snarked back, smirking.

"Don't call me sensei, Blondie," Laxus growled through clenched teeth.

"Why not, Sensei?" Lucy mocked, her eyes shining.

"Do you want me to finish my 'report' or not, Blondie?" He hissed at her, glaring.

"Fine, continue," She muttered, pouting.

There was a long pause as Laxus tapped his chin thoughtfully and Lucy fidgeted in her seat, wishing she had a notebook to write all of his feedback in. She hoped she could keep track of most of it, and if nothing else perhaps Capricorn could remember.

"Well, I haven't seen you punch or kick anything in these past weeks so you probably suck at hand to hand combat. Climbing trees was a disaster- you have as much grace as a blind, three-legged goat and you bombed that whole 'dodge the rocks' thing." Laxus clicked his tongue while Lucy tried to keep her anger reined in.

She was the one who had asked Laxus for feedback, she reminded herself. She didn't want him to sugarcoat it, he was just being honest. Lucy took a deep breath, what Laxus said was true, even if it hurt. She had completely failed the tree climbing exercise they did the day previously- there were still broken tree branches littering the edge of the clearing where she had fallen out of multiple trees, multiple times.

"Even though you've been training for almost a month you haven't really improved that much," Lucy opened her mouth to interrupted angrily but he continued quickly, "Which is completely normal Blondie, especially since you mostly just run and do simple exercises. I would suggest you keep up the tree-climbing and rock-dodging to help with balance and agility."

He hummed again and let out a long breath before closing his stormy eyes, "Maybe do some dancing or something, agility and grace may not seem like a big deal but being able to dodge a surprise knife attack you'll realise quick reflexes can be the difference between life and death. You need to work on hand-to-hand combat and I know that whip of yours isn't just for show- train with that too." Laxus looked at Lucy who was staring at the sky making a mental list of everything he had said.

"I spent six years studying dance- mostly ballet and ballroom- I'd rather not have to endure it again,"

"Could have fooled me," He muttered dryly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She protested angrily, brown eyes easily lighting up with the telltale sign of her impending angry outburst.

Laxus chuckled, shaking his head at her, "To be blunt? You suck. Evidently you forgot all six years-" At the venomous glare from Lucy, because she certainly had not forgotten all of the lessons from the strict prissy tutor of her's, Laxus reiterated, "or at least your body forgot them. A few dance lessons and your body will probably remember them,"

"Okay, anything else?" She snapped, obviously unhappy and unwilling to continue their argument. .

There was a snort from the cocky blonde, "No thank-you?"

"I just wanted to make sure you were done," She ground out angrily.

"I'm done. Thank me," He spoke, smirking.

Lucy glared, "Thank-you, Sensei," She spit, brown eyes narrowed.

Laxus's eyes sparkled dangerously, "Don't call me sensei, _Blondie_."

Fire danced in both the blondes' eyes as they held a silent competition of wills, "Then don't call me Blondie, _Sensei_."

Brown clashed against blue as they challenged each other and the temperature around the two seemed to drop with their moods. Laxus opened his mouth to speak but they were both snapped out of their stupors as Capricorn's voice sliced into the silence.

"Lucy-sama, I am ready to proceed if you are," Her spirit spoke, head bowed slightly as she looked at him.

"Oh, OH! Yes, yes, of course Capricorn, I'm so sorry," Lucy said, a light pink dusting her cheeks as she rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

Her spirit lifted his head and stared, "It is no trouble, Lucy-sama."

Lucy waited for him to continue, or maybe start his evaluation but he just stared at her, apparently expecting her to speak.

"Erm, right... uh, thanks?" She asked, eyebrows arched.

Her spirit nodded, "Laxus-sama was partially right when he said you have not improved as much as perhaps you though you have. However, this current training regimen was not meant to improve all of your skills, I was simply helping you build up stamina and muscle. It was not at all meant to be difficult or rigorous."

Lucy stared at him blankly and then blinked, once, twice," So what you're saying is that the training I've been doing was... light?" Her voice turned into a wail towards the end as her wide eyes frantically searched her spirit's face.

Her body ached down to her bones, she had been sleeping over twelve hours a day from pure exhaustion- her limbs always felt like they were rocks and he was saying that her training was nothing?

"Essentially," Capricorn confirmed, unperturbed by her moon-sized brown eyes or the fact that her jaw was practically on the floor as she sputtered helplessly.

"Close your mouth Blondie, you'll catch flies," Laxus said, a smirk dancing at the corners of his mouth.

"Shut. Up," Lucy snarled at him, although her jaw snapped shut with an audible click.

"Laxus-sama's evaluation of your skills was correct, I don't feel the need to add any further input, instead I would like to discuss a new training routine with you." Capricorn glanced at her through sunglass-obscured eyes before continuing, "I propose we continue doing the rock and tree exercises along with continuing to slowly increase your lap count each day. I believe at this point you may move up your weights- although you are not ready I feel as though the more you are pushed the faster you will adjust,"

Lucy prepared to interrupt him because there was absolutely no way she was prepared to move up weights- she didn't need a repeat of a few days ago thank-you. Before she could even open her mouth Capricorn met her eyes with a leveled glare which was a surprising first for her, Capricorn never glared. She pressed her lips together tightly and let him continue, although her face was screwed up in a pout.

"I suggest you begin calling out Leo after your training everyday to begin work on you hand-to-hand combat skills and perhaps Virgo to teach you better whip control. I second Laxus-sama's suggestion of perhaps taking up a dance class- maybe ballet? We will also continue increasing your magical container every day however I would like you to practice it on your own time as well," Her spirit stared at her expectantly, waiting for her input.

How could Capricorn agree she needed dance lessons? Dancing was absolutely one of her least favourite things to do- especially ballet. She could practically feel her toes bleeding at the prospect of returning to the god-forsaken activity. Lucy mentally groaned but accepted the fact that she would have to break her promise to herself to never take dance again should she want to improve as fast as possible. She chided herself for acting childishly about it- besides, as Laxus had said she might only need a few lessons. After all, six years of taking ballet and ballroom dancing, plus the variety of other lessons thrown in the mix was bound to be recorded in her muscle memory.

On the outside Lucy looked at her spirit blankly, absorbing all of the information and suggestions (she internally groaned again at the prospect of _ballet_) he had given her along with trying to get past the fact that he wanted her to move up weights. Hadn't he said just two days ago she wasn't ready? What changed? Sure, she wanted to get better and she wanted to get better now but that didn't mean she wanted to die in the process. Her mind was a white sheet of paper as she blinked her big brown eyes slowly and sought for something to say.

"I have a mission today," She supplied, completely and utterly off topic.

Capricorn nodded solemnly, not even bothering to question the sheer randomness of her statement, "We will implement these plans when you return. I suggest looking into ballet classes around town, for now, we shall train."

Lucy stood, wiping clinging grass from the backs of her legs as she did so. Her entire body tingled with excitement at the prospect of her mission- her changed training routine. She would finally be doing training with Loke as well, which meant Capricorn finally thought she was ready- or at least close enough to it. After a month (ok, she was rounding up but it was only a few days from being a month, trully) she felt like she was finally moving forward, inching away from the girl she had been and towards the girl she wanted to be. After months and months of thinking and making promises that she would get stronger she had finally started doing it.

A radiant smile lit up her face, despite the fact that Capricorn's voice commanded she start with sixty five laps- seventy if she could manage. Lucy grinned to herself feeling as if she could run a hundred laps without dampening her mood.

* * *

Sixty-six laps later Lucy realised that no, she could not run a hundred laps without dampening her mood. In fact, her exuberant aura had completely dissipated by her twenty-second lap and hadn't made a move to resurface. The only feeling of joy inside her was due to the fact that she only had to deal with five more laps of Laxus chucking _rocks_ at her. Rocks! After he had figured out she ignored the trembling, weak feeling of her legs and the scratchy, four-days-without-water feeling in her throat by letting herself get caught in her thoughts he had run off, collected giant handfuls of pebbles from a stream and then proceeded to _throw _them. At her. And then _laugh_.

In hindsight, the method wasn't as effective as he had probably intended because her anger was dulling any pain she felt as her mind chanted _Kill! Kill! Kill! _over and over as if she was marching towards battle. However, current Lucy was gritting her teeth, weakly trying to dodge the stone aimed towards her face as she passed the stick firmly suck into the ground- making the number of remaining laps three... and a half. Her lips parted as a hiss of pain escaped, courtesy of a quarter-sized rock hit her sweaty neck with deadly precision and a strong throw.

Seething as she was once again hit, her angry brown eyes turned to glare at Laxus who was openly laughing at her, feet dangling off the edge of his large rock as he threw river stones at her. Capricorn stood in the middle of the field, calmly dodging stray rocks with barely-there sidesteps and head tilts. Lucy was growing increasingly infuriated at Capricorn's blatant- but probably unintentional- show of superiority. She tried to reason that he was simply standing and she was running but she knew it didn't make a difference, she would probably suck more dodging at a stand still because, at least while running Laxus miscalculated how fast or slow she might go and mis threw them. Granted, he was probably faking not being able to hit her a few times just to make her feel better.

She was brought back to the present as a particularly large stone was chucked at her and she reared back to avoid being hit in the side of the face with it. Instead the stone skimmed past her face, the sharp tip slicing a shallow cut into her cheek from the sheer force at which it was thrown. Lucy was not envious of whoever angered a knife wielding Laxus.

"What the hell?" She snarled, skidding towards a stop with a mental cheer and curling her lip at him.

She supposed that spending the entire month with mostly only Laxus as far as social interactions went he had rubbed off on her and not in the good way. She muttered another string of curses at him and glowered as he nimbly hopped down from the rock and approached her.

"Get your head out of your ass and focus on your task then Blondie," He snapped, eyes flickering for a brief moment to scan her appearance.

Lucy was dirty, sweaty, and already starting to bruise. Laxus was almost worse than Capricorn- at least her goat spirit trained her to improve, Laxus only 'trained' her when it involved injuring her so he could laugh at her pain, the sadistic asshole. She glowered at him, a sarcastic retort at the tip of her tongue. Unfortunately Capricorn cut into the conversation before she could say anything.

"Lucy-sama, in order to make sure you have ample time to get your things together for your mission she must continue," Her spirit murmured, head slightly bowed.

"Oh, right... of course," Lucy waved her hands around, "So, what's next? Pushups, situps, jumping jacks?" She asked hopefully.

"Tree climbing,"Her spirit replied, undeterred by her dangerous scowl.

* * *

Lucy laid on the singed grass in the middle of her training field, forcing her breathing to regulate. Her eyes were shut peacefully as she stole a few minutes to recuperate before leaving to get her things and finally go on her mission. Capricorn was sitting nearby, explaining in further detail the training plans he had made for her over the course of her mission. She listened to him with one ear, mind mentally cataloguing and filing the information while she rested.

She felt calm and at ease- despite her sore body and sticky, sweaty limbs. The feeling was, surprisingly, almost comforting to her because the aching in her bones and the pain in her muscles meant she was improving. She released a deep breath, a soft smile tugging at the corner of her lips. After an entire month of basically barring herself from the outside world and training like crazy she was getting somewhere. Granted, somewhere was only a few baby steps from where she had been before but, as the saying went, rome wasn't built in a day.

"Alright, Lucy-sama, I suppose you'll want to get your things and go," Capricorn broke her out of her reverie and she blinking, coffee coloured eyes staring up at the face of her spirit.

"M'kay, thanks Capricorn. You said I should try meditating on the train right, just feeling for my magic?"

At a slight nod from Capricorn she breathed out a sigh and stood up, beaming, "I guess I really should get going then, huh?"

She dismissed her spirit with a cheery goodbye and wave before snatching up her whip and belt, attaching them with familiar ease. Laxus didn't speak- the lazy dragonslayer was probably asleep for all she knew- and Lucy didn't care to say goodbye to him. If he wanted to talk he would. Lucy had figured that out about her unorthodox companion, unless he initiated the conversation he wasn't likely to participate in it. It irked Lucy to no end but she supposed that some people couldn't change who they were and she had to ask herself why she even cared.

"Don't die, Blondie," A voice shouted at her back, causing another soft smile to play at the corners of her lips.

"Wouldn't dream of it Sensei, I'm sure you'd miss me too much," She called teasingly, looking over her shoulder for a brief moment and smirking at him.

There were no other words between them- there didn't need to be. Laxus, in his twisted, weird way, had wished her good luck and Lucy- in the same weird, twisted way- had thanked him. Anymore would have made things unnecessarily awkward. The blonde man lied back onto the flat surface of the rock, the sun warming him only slightly as his own small smile threatened to surface. Lucy bounded away, sweaty, dirty and bruised but ultimately overjoyed as excitement tingled through her bones. The morning, overall, had been a good way.

* * *

**AN/ Alrighty, that's that. **

**I hate New Years because I think it's dumb and I also hate New Year's Resolutions. HOWEVER, I have made some, just for you guys c: **

**So my goal is to have the next three or four chapters done by Valentine's Day, hopefully more. Then I also want to go back and edit/ kind of rewrite the first two chapters because I feel like they don't match the rest of the story as much as far as how they were written and I think I need to make it more interesting, plus maybe add more of a reason for Lucy leaving Team Natsu/ go into a little more detail. Have a good New Year guys. :)**

**AS ALWAYS, CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM (emphasis on _CONSTRUCTIVE_) IS WELCOME AND TELL ME ANY GRAMMAR/SPELLING ERRORS YOU SPOT! **

**(and review because I love you guys and I love hearing from you, it makes my little heart sing) **


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